The MWPP Chronicles
by MissSugarQuill
Summary: In the Marauder era, featuring the lovely LILY, the jubilant JAMES, the stunning SIRIUS and the refined REMUS, there are bound to be many one shots.
1. Cat Got Your Tongue?

Disclaimer: How I do love Harry Potter, but Jo created them. The end.

**The MWPP Chronicles**

**Part One ll Cat Got Your Tongue?**

Summary_: Lily loses her ability of speech at the moment she really_ _needs it._

.-.-.-.-.-.-

The breeze ruffled the grass as it made its evening round over the grounds of Hogwarts. The sky was nicely lit with a few of the sun's ray, as it was setting. The sky furthest away from the sun was a purply-blue colour.

Sitting on the grass, somewhat near the edge of the lake, were three girls.

There was one with cascading dark, blonde hair and brown eyes. She was eating a Chocolate Frog dreamily as her glistening brown eyes stared luminously at the sunset. In her lap were several more unwrapped Chocolate Frogs. She was known as Audrey.

There was another who had very light, blonde hair and playful blue eyes that darkened to a navy mist when she was angry. She was laughingly throwing Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans into the air, before trying to catch them with her mouth. In her hands was a box half-full of beans. Her name was Cassidy.

And the girl in between had long, deep, red hair and emerald green eyes. They were so green that it entranced many people. She was sucking on a sugar quill, deep in wonder about luxurious daydreams. Beside her on the soft, dandelion-sprinkled grass was a box full of sugar quills. This girl was called Lily.

It was a clear, cool evening, and the girls appreciated the peaceful air outside while enjoying the warm taste of sugar in their mouths. Whether it came as chocolatey richness, or in exotic small flavours, or simply sugar pouring out of a feather.

Sugar quills were Lily's favourite.

So she definitely was not thrilled when a hand snatched up her box.

"Hey!" she started angrily, leaping to her feet to see the thief.

It was a teenage boy.

Tall, untidy jet-black hair, hazel eyes.

James Potter.

He was grinning calmly at Lily while he rummaged around in the box, making several of the rich quills fall onto the soft grass. Lily's eyes flashed dangerously.

"Honestly Potter, if you - " she started her threat menacingly.

James had already popped the desired sugar quill into his mouth. He continued smiled at Lily as he replaced the box on the grass. Audrey and Cassidy were looking up, both with vague smiles on their faces.

"Potter, two words," Lily snarled, glaring at the faraway sky as she flopped onto the grass, "Sod off."

"Nah. I kind of like it here," James replied sinisterly, sitting beside her. Cassidy grinned. She always loved witnessing James annoying her best friend.

"Will you please go out with me?" he asked in a serious and honest voice.

It was the first time he had asked with due regard for decorum. Lily was momentarily shocked.

The word "no" was about to roll off her tongue, as usual, when a clot of liquidy sugar got stuck in her throat. Lily choked and coughed several times.

James looked at her intently.

Lily tried to say "no" again, but nothing came out. She began to go red. Furious with herself, she tried to utter the simple word for the third time. Again, no sound exited her mouth.

Audrey looked rather surprised, "Lily, what ever is the matter?"

"Maybe she wants to say "yes"," James said hopefully, his eyes sparkling.

Lily shook her head furiously.

"Well, c'mon then, flower. Just say so. Silent treatment isn't going to work on me."

Lily could not understand what was happening to her. It was like someone had taken away her voice box. NO, she wanted to yell in James' stupid face. NO, NO, NO! But nothing came out. She couldn't say it.

James looked amused, "What's wrong? What, are you actually considering it?"

Lily shook her head even more furiously this time.

Cassidy was giggling as a smiling Audrey said, "James, just leave her alone. A shake of the head is enough of an answer, is it not?"

"No, not really," James said teasingly, looking at Lily fondly, "I need the word NO to come out of her beautiful mouth, and then an insult. Those are my personal favourite."

Lily looked as though she'd like to hit James very much.

"So I take the long delay for an answer as a yes, then?" James finally said, raising his eyebrows. Lily shook her head furiously, her green eyes growing large.

James grinned, "Great then, flower. I'll meet you at the Great Hall this weekend, and then we'll go and spend a lovely day at Hogsmeade."

He leant over and kissed her.

Thousands of stars exploded above as James' lips met with Lily's. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach, and she felt herself go weak all over.

James broke off, looking at Lily affectionately, whose lips were red and plump, and her cheeks slightly flushed. Her eyes were sparking with passion, heat, desire... and something else.

"Why'd you do that for?" Lily finally managed to say, though her voice sounded husky.

James smiled softly, "Finally decided to talk, did you? Well, I suppose I'll see you around then, flower."

He got up, but not before he had ran his hand through Lily's soft, red hair. James winked at her and then strode off, still sucking on his sugar quill.

"Wow," Audrey said, grinning, "Way to go, Lily. You two a couple now?"

"What?" Lily said, still in a daydream, "Oh..."

"Well, he did ask you out, and kiss you," Cassidy insisted, "You should honestly go on that date with him. Give him a chance for once."

Lily sighed, though this was not entirely out of exasperation, "I suppose so..."

This seemed to be good enough for both Cassidy and Audrey. They both resumed back to throwing Bertie Bott's beans or eating Chocolate Frogs.

Lily wondered what had happened to her voice. Maybe she had been shocked that James had said "please". Yeah, that had to be it. There was no other explanation as to why she couldn't speak when James asked her out, and then how she could after he kissed her.

Lily shared this thought with her friends, who agreed that it was odd at her voice's temporary disappearance.

"I'm going back to the common-room," Lily said lightly, looking rather happy. She picked up her box of sugar quills and floated over the soft meadows of grass, back to the castle.

Cassidy, smiling most mischievously, pocketed a vile of voice-stripping potion and congratulated herself on a job well done.

.-.-.-.-.-.-

A/N: Hi! I hope you enjoyed that. It's a one-shot, and something I wrote when I was terribly bored. Please review and let me know what you think of it. :) Feedback is always loved! Thank you very much for reading. -.-MSQ.


	2. Jumping Castle

Disclaimer: How I do love Harry Potter, but Jo created them. The end.

**The MWPP Chronicles**

**Part Two ll Jumping Castle **

Summary: _As Sirius does some fairly childish things with Arabella at a friend's birthday party, he realises maybe he does have a chance with the Ice Queen after all..._

.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sirius Black sat dejectedly at the top of the jumping castle. He managed to keep up his usual-chirpy appearance by kicking and pushing people down the slide as they prepared to slide down. But really, he was a depressed boy.

Alice came running up the inflatable stairs and stood in front of him. She got ready to slide down when -

"Geromino!" Sirius cried out cheerfully, getting up suddenly and shoving her down.

Alice screamed as she fell flat on her bottom and went skidding down the almost four-metre slide.

"Sirius! I'm so going to get you for that!" she screamed, picking herself up from the grass and glaring up at him.

Sirius grinned mischievously.

His grin disappeared as he dully watched some three-year-olds toddle up the stairs and went down the smaller slide. He felt the constant wobble of the castle as the other side was where all the other children were jumping up and down.

He pushed two other girls down afterwards, both who yelled and screamed threats. When he finished, he slumped back down with the same dejected look on his face.

His problem was connected with a girl - Arabella Figg. He wasn't sure what was so special about her, but he sure liked her a lot. He'd liked a couple of girls in the past; all very pretty with silky hair and bright eyes.

Sirius knew it sounded corny, but he liked Arabella for her personality and not for her looks. Sure, she was pretty, but she wasn't beautiful. But when she smiled - she looked like an angel.

Sirius sighed, not even bothering to kick James down the slide as he went headfirst. He was at a birthday party - Bonnie's thirteenth birthday party. Bonnie was a close friend of Arabella's, and a popular one among the Marauders. Bonnie's parents had hired a huge jumping castle that was complete with two inflatable slides. To make it extra slippery, they had poured baby powder all over it.

His eyes lit up as he watched his little angel cross the grass below. She was having a giggling fit with Bonnie near the barbecue.

_Why won't she just give me a chance? _

Sirius tried not to look too sad - it would look too suspicious. But he couldn't help it. He felt like he was complete and utterly in love with Ara, but she seemed to have made it clear she hadn't the slightest bit of interest in him. He had flirted with her, but she simply dismissed it all. He had made it as obvious as he could've without screaming it out. But either she was completely blind or she had no interest.

He had gone with the latter.

Sirius sighed inwardly. He didn't even notice as Alice sidled past him quickly and went headfirst down the slide.

There _had_ been times when he thought that just _maybe_ she fancied him too. But every time he got hope, he'd get let down again. Merlin, even her friends seemed to notice there was a spark between the two. Bonnie, for one. He had overheard her telling Ara that he fancied her. She had just laughed it off.

Sirius didn't think it was a laughing matter. In truth, he felt like his heart was tearing into two.

He had chased after her for almost two years, but she didn't seem to acknowledge it. Sirius' eyes lingered on her as she looked up briefly and flashed him a quick but sweet smile. His heart froze and he smiled back. But when she looked away he closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

Ara's friends had actually told him to get over her. Selena, whom he had known since before Hogwarts, had told him seriously that he should consider giving up on her. But Sirius wasn't about to give up on a girl. He had managed to get plenty before; this one was just a challenge.

But now as he thought about it...

_It might be a good idea. _

He was broken out of his miserable thoughts as Ara herself and Alice came running up the stairs, laughing. They were obviously having a race.

They both collapsed at the top, laughing. Sirius watched them intently. Their laughing was causing the castle to shake even more. Alice caught her breath and her eyes fell on Sirius. She eyed him evilly.

"Careful Ara, he pushes people down the slide," she warned, before she walked over to the slide and stood at the top. Sirius grinned and pushed her.

Ara was laughing as a screaming Alice plunged down and came skidding onto the grass below.

Sirius waited for Ara to slide down as well, but instead, she plopped down beside him.

"Hello," she said cheerfully.

"Hi," he said distantly, feeling a little light-headed. Ara rarely made the first move at conversation. In fact, whenever he tried to sit beside her and draped an arm around her casually, she'd stiffen up and eventually move away.

She looked at him with concerned brown eyes, "What's the matter?"

"What? Nothing," Sirius said, trying to smile.

Ara made a disbelieving noise.

"Honest!" Sirius said, this time smiling properly.

She just shook her head and smiled, "So what are you doing up here all by yourself? You look lonely."

"I'm not lonely," Sirius grinned, feeling the relieving happiness froth inside of him, "I'm just kicking people down as they go on the slide. It's rather entertaining."

"I'll say," Ara said with a grin.

Sirius remained quite lost for a moment as he stared at her smiling face. Luckily, she was occupied with staring at the wandering people below.

"Want to try?" he finally asked her.

Ara looked back at him uncertainly, "What, push people down?"

"Yeah! C'mon, it's heaps fun! Here, I'll show you -"

James came running up the stairs. He nodded over to them. Sirius nodded back. Ara watched intently as James sat on the top edge of the steep inflatable slide, preparing to go down. Sirius leapt up from behind him and gave him a good-natured push.

"Oh, man!" James yelped, his arms flying wildly in an obscure way as he tumbled down, "PADFOOT!"

Ara was laughing as she watched. Sirius smiled at her, "You ready for your turn?"

She seemed uncertain, "Um, I suppose so..."

"Here's your chance," Sirius murmured, watching as Bonnie climbed up the gigantic inflatable stairs.

Ara immediately grinned.

"Hey Ara, Sirius," Bonnie said smilingly when she reached the top.

"Hi," Ara answered back mischievously.

"Hey," Sirius said innocently.

"You sliding down?" Bonnie asked Ara, who shook her head.

Bonnie stood right at the edge of the slide. Sirius nodded over to Ara, who uncertainly got up. Just as Bonnie was about to go down, Ara gave her a light push.

"AHHH!"

"AHHH!"

Bonnie had grabbed onto Ara's ankle when she got shoved down, so she was pulling Ara down with her. Instinctively, Ara had screamed and grabbed onto the side of the slide to keep herself up.

Sirius, half-laughing, leant over and reached for Ara's hand. She grabbed onto it and Sirius dragged her back up. Bonnie released her before sliding down the rest of the slide on her stomach, yelling up at Ara.

"Ara, you cow! You're gonna pay later!"

Ara was giggling her head off as she righted herself up, leaning against the back of the slide, "Oh, that was so much fun!"

Sirius grinned at her, "I told you so. C'mon, here comes Remus."

An unsuspecting Remus doubled over to slide headfirst. Sirius and Ara both pounced forward and gave him a good shove.

"What the - !"

"Good one!" Sirius exclaimed enthusiastically, high-fiving Ara. She grinned at him, causing his heart to melt right over.

They spent about another ten minutes pushing their friends down, then laughing insanely afterwards as they yelled all sorts of threats at them.

Sirius felt like he had finally bonded with Ara - in the way he had least suspected, but still bonding nonetheless. And he couldn't help but think how pretty she looked whenever she laughed.

"Here comes Jamie-boy for the sixth time," Sirius whispered to her with a grin, "Honestly, hasn't that boy noticed that each time he tries to go down, we push him?"

Ara giggled, "Probably not. Can I get him this time?"

"Go ahead."

James, eyeing them warily, quickly sidled past them and towards the slide. He bent over and -

"DAMMIT YOU TWO! GIVE ME A BREAK!" he bellowed as Ara kicked him gently on the bottom so that he forward-rolled down. But anyone could tell he wasn't really angry. He was grinning as he picked himself up from the grass for the sixth time.

Ara and Sirius were still laughing, both sprawled on the small area where you walked from the top of the stairs towards the slide. James decided to show off in front of Lily and tried to run up the slide instead of walking up the stairs. But Ara stood at the top, smiled at him sweetly, said "Sorry!" and shoved him back down.

But as she pushed him, she slipped and fell. Ara grabbed onto Sirius' ankle to stop her from sliding down, taking him quite by surprise.

"Oi! Let go!" Sirius said, still laughing at James falling down, "Just slide down by yourself and come back up!"

"Oh no," Ara said evilly, clinging onto his ankle, "If I go, you go down with me."

"Ara..."

"Don't 'Ara' me."

So the two remained like that for a few seconds; Ara a quarter down the slide and holding onto Sirius' ankle, who was clinging onto the back of the jumping castle so he wouldn't be dragged down with the girl he had once thought an angel.

"Hey, look everyone! The two little push-offerers are about to fall down!" James yelled gleefully from below. Most of their friends looked up at Sirius and Ara evilly. With a gulp, Sirius noticed that everyone now staring up at them as if they were their dinner had been pushed down by him and Ara at least once.

"Let's drag them down!" Bonnie yelled. They all shouted and cheered in agreement. James ran up the slide and grabbed Ara's ankle, causing them to descend as the weight increased.

"Please James..." Ara begged.

"This is for kicking me down about fifty times!" James said maliciously, clinging onto her ankle tightly.

Sirius just laughed.

Lily also ran up and grabbed James' foot. Alice grabbed Lily's, and Bonnie grabbed her's.

"You people need to lose some weight!" Sirius bellowed from the top. His arms were about to give way as more and more people helped try to pull him down. The line had extended to halfway across the backyard.

"Pull!" someone yelled. Sirius felt the pressure as many people tugged them. But he wasn't going to give up that easily.

Selena and a boy ran up the stairs and went towards him.

"Let go Sirius," Selena teased, placing her hand over his and gently prying his fingers off the back of the jumping castle.

"Don't be slack, Selena," Sirius said mournfully, trying to maintain a firm grip.

"Oh come on, you've got like fifteen people trying to drag you down the slide. The least I can do is help," she said with a grin. She began to tickle him.

"Ahhh!"

Sirius immediately let go and the majority of people screamed as they suddenly slid down the slippery dip. The people who had been standing on the lawn collapsed onto the grass at the sudden release, and the people who had been hanging off the slide all tumbled down into a heap at the bottom, yelping.

"Oh, that was priceless!" Ara was laughing, untangling herself from the tangle of people.

She got to her feet with the help of Bonnie and Alice. Brushing dirt and grass off her jeans, Ara smiled brightly at Sirius.

"That was a lot of fun!" she exclaimed. Sirius was still laughing.

"I'll say."

Bonnie and Alice were smiling knowingly and significantly at the two.

"I thought Ara was never going to let it go to her head," Bonnie muttered to Alice as they brushed past.

"Yeah, that girl was pretty blind not to realise Sirius..."

Remus and James winked a silent good luck when they walked past.

Ara looked at Sirius and smiled again.

"You want to get a bite?" she asked shyly, holding out her hand.

Sirius stared at her, wondering if she was serious. Arabella Figg... the girl who usually acted as an Ice Queen and played hard-to-get was inviting him to eat with her?

"Okay," he said with a stupid grin. Ara smiled back shyly, her brown eyes glowing.

And as Sirius held her hand and led her towards the barbecue with the silly smile still upon his face, he figured he might have a chance after all.

.-.-.-.-.-.-

A/N: Just to clear everything up, these "parts" of this chronicle-story-thing are **_NOT_ **related to each other in any way, unless it is labelled so. Every chapter is a new one-shot. So those of you expecting a second part to Cat Got Your Tongue?, I'm sorry. :)

And yeah, just pretend Arabella and Sirius are the same age. :) Please? Thank you! Hehe. I wanted to write a Sirius shot because he's cool and I sometimes get sick of writing just Lily/James all the time. (Gasp!) Lol. :) Thank you VERY muchly if you reviewed last time, and if you could find it in the goodness of your heart to drop a review for this one, I will be eternally yours! Well... not really. But it would be nice:P -.-MSQ.


	3. Holding On

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Harry Potter, nor Harry Potter himself. x)

**Holding On**

_Summary: Lily's crazy over this one guy whose last act pushes her off the edge. There's only one person she can hold onto at the moment._

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"Lily, you are such a _doofus_," remarked Deidre sceptically, pulling on a white sweater vest over her pink top, "A _doofus_."

"This is for Brandon, Dee Dee," chuckled Andii, glancing over at their short red-haired friend who was quietly adjusting her skimpy white tank top, "Braaaandon. Y'know, the one Lily's been in love with since - well, since _forever_."

"Stop putting so much _exaggeration_ on your words," Lily finally said, "It's bloody annoying. I can almost see the italics in my head."

"Whatever," Dee Dee (Deidre) said impatiently, "I still think you're a doofus. Skiving through the snow in just _that_?"

"Enough with the italics!" Lily burst out.

"Okay, we'll stop saying words _weirdly_, but Merlin, just going to Hogsmeade at _Christmas_ - oh, my bad - in that thing? You can't even wrap up a two-year-old with that much material! Lily, you sure are - "

"A doofus," Dee Dee finished for Andii with great flourish.

Andii said nothing (which meant she agreed) and turned expectantly to Lily.

"Why don't you just go out with James? Now _there's_ a nice bloke. And he treats you well, Lil, you're just too much of a doofus to realise it," Dee Dee said snappishly, a little annoyed at her friend who was incorrigibly _dense_ when it came to James, "And he only hexes Snivellus cause he deserves it. The nasty git."

"Honestly Lily, Dee's right. Brandon treats girls like scum. He only has half an eye for sticks on legs with blonde hair and blue eyes. He's only using you, Lily. He got you to lie to McGonagall and say that you wanted to study in her classroom so he could snog Illeana in it!" exclaimed Andii.

Then she and Dee Dee fell into a rant about Lily and her thickness.

"You've got excuses for James saying he's a nasty, arrogant prick - "

" - but Brandon's head's bigger than the entire world and would feed the starving people in Africa till the day they die!"

"I can't even sit near him in Potions because I'm scared his ear will suddenly slap me in the face!"

"HIS HEAD IS JUST SO BLOODY BIG!" yelled Andii.

" - and _then_ - shush Lil, I like my italics - you've always got _good_ excuses for Brandon, saying how he's just being a normal teenage boy - "

" - but what about James? He's cute too, you know. Give him a - "

" - bloody chance!"

Through all that, they hadn't noticed Lily had slipped out of the dormitory.

---

Lily breathed in the stuffy and warm air around her. She ignored the stares of fellow students who clearly thought she was insane for wearing nothing but a thin tank top out in such weather.

She wondered if Professor Dumbledore would see this as a black mark on her record, and therefore her much desired dream of becoming Head Girl the next year were ruined.

Suddenly, the whole idea seemed much... _stupider_. As Dee Dee and Andii had been trying to say for the past few minutes. Hours. Okay, maybe days.

But what did _they_ know? Lily kicked a stray stone on the path and shivered. It was getting cooler.

Brandon was cute and he had gorgeous hair and eyes. His smile was something to die for, but it was rarely seen. His true smile, that is. His fake one that he used on girls was seen all the time. He was a prick.

Lily thought he was a gift sent from heaven.

But then, love is blind.

Andii always said Brandon was just using Lily, her being a perfect student and a prefect and all. She was a good person to have on your side. A _very_ good person to be quite besotted with you, too.

Lily almost died and went straight to heaven when Brandon finally acknowledged her. She had crushed on him since... forever. And not once did he look in her direction.

He had been really nice to her at first. Lily thought they could become more than friends, then Brandon picked this girl from Hufflepuff to become his SOUL MATE. After that, he began to treat Lily as one would treat a slave. At first, Lily didn't mind. Hell, she was quite pleased. But then Brandon became more ordering and not quite-so-nice. And Lily had other things to do, too. She had homework and prefect duties.

But she still really liked him.

_He's really sweet and nice when he wants to be!_ Lily thought angrily, trying to fight her annoying friends' voices in her head, _And we have so much in common._

James hated his guts. He hated how he treated the girl of his dreams. It was MEAN.

Lily shivered again. She approached the Entrance Hall and got her name marked off, ignoring Filch's "Yer'll be comin' back 'ere half-frozen, girlie."

Brandon's latest mission for her?

Well, it wasn't _really_ a mission... More like a, "you do this and I'll do something to please you."

Brandon said that if Lily could spend an entire four hours in Hogsmeade (outdoors) in just a piece of clothing from one of his girlfriends, he and her would have a special dinner alone at the Astronomy Tower.

Of course, Lily had jumped for it.

Four hours in the snow in a tanktop? That was easy!

But looking at it now, Lily decided it wasn't going to be so.

She closed her eyes and tried to breathe between the gaps of her teeth, and hugged herself. People were staring at her as they walked past.

She had to find Brandon. He had promised to be waiting for her outside the Three Broomsticks.

So Lily quickly set off. Her arms were turning pink and she felt numb. A few tears stung her eyes. She felt hopelessly alone and well, _cold_.

She saw the big pub ahead and quickened her pace. She was just _this_ (mental image of thumb and finger almost touching) close to telling Brandon the deal was off.

THE THREE BROOMSTICKS was painted in a splash of warm red across the brown sign that was edged with gold.

Brandon wasn't there.

Lily sighed. She hugged herself and wondered what on earth she should do.

She'd keep going on the deal, that was what. She'd show Brandon. She was _going to have dinner with him_.

Defiant, she began to search the cold and frosty village of Hogsmeade for a certain boy who was an arrogant asshole and badly needed a reality check because he had the brain capacity of a four-year-old who's been dropped on the head about a million times!

But of course, Lily did not know any of that.

_C'mon, be somewhere around here... please?_ Lily thought desperately. Tears stung into her eyes as she looked left and right for any sign of light brown hair.

Her skin was now glowing a dangerous pink. Her teeth were chattering badly and her blood felt as though it had been chilled.

Lily couldn't take it anymore. She was definitely not going to continue on this stupid deal thing. She turned around to run back to the Three Broomsticks but it began to rain halfway.

"Why me?" she whimpered, the icy cold rain lashing her numb skin. She was so cold she couldn't feel anything.

And why in the name of Merlin was it raining _now_? When it was supposed to be snowing!

Looking at the white ice piles, she realised none of them were melting.

People around her were running and screaming, ducking into nearby shops to find warmth and shelter.

Maybe she should be doing the same...

But Lily stood out there, all alone in the street. The rain poured down on her and her breathing shortened.

She was an idiot.

It was so obvious it wasn't even funny.

She was a _doofus_.

Dee Dee and Andii were right. Brandon was worth nothing more than a pile of Hippogriff droppings.

So why did she bother chasing him all those years?

Lily looked up into the sky and received a slap of ice-rain in return.

Because she was shallow. All she could see was Brandon's good looks and charm.

_I'm not shallow_, she argued, _If I was, I'd be snogging Potter right now..._

Potter may be a bit of a prick, but at least he treats girls like they're human.

_Shut up, we're not talking about Potter. We're talking about how I need to get out of here._

Lily felt a few more tears fall down her face. It could've been the rain, but they were warm.

She was going to freeze into a human ice cube because she had been stupid enough to venture into the snow and rain without wearing at least three layers...

All for a boy.

People do stupid things for love.

_It's not even love_, Lily thought furiously, _It's... nothing._

Maybe she could die out here, in the middle of Hogsmeade when it was almost Christmas. In the middle of the snow and rain. Wearing nothing but a tanktop and jeans, as if she was dressed for a moderately warm day at the beach.

Maybe...

_MOVE YOU STUPID GIRL_, Lily heard her brain yell, _GET TO THE THREE BROOMSTICKS AND BE WARM! WAAARRRM. YOU'LL DIE OUT HERE!_

Honestly, Lily had never heard of anyone freezing to death. Sure, she'd heard the saying but...

_MOVE ALREADY, EVANS._

Lily sighed and commanded all her muscles to move, which was really, really hard.

She took a step and shivered violently. She almost swayed and fell, but she kept her balance. Then another step. And another. By her fifth step her muscles had loosened up and she had gotten used to the ice cubes pounding down on her.

_I'll never complain about hot weather again_, she found herself thinking bitterly.

When Lily finally reached the Three Broomsticks, she fell heavily on the door and collapsed in. Many customers near the door looked up in alarm at this freakishly pale girl with blue lips who was soaked to the bone.

Lily squeezed her eyes shut because the thought of the merry pub was too much for her. A lump rose in her throat and when she opened her eyes, her vision was blurred with tears.

She took another step forward and managed to limp across to a secluded table in the corner.

It was nice and warm... but she had read somewhere that if you are suddenly transported to a warm area when you have been soaked and cold, it was bad for you.

Maybe she'd catch her death of pneumonia.

_You're thinking suicidal because of a boy?_

That wasn't Lily Evans. She was unbreakable. She was pretty, smart and nice. But surely a _boy_ couldn't make her world fall apart. Especially a boy like Brandon.

Lily began to shiver again.

No, she couldn't lose her pride and dignity for a _boy_. Definitely not.

But... maybe she already had...?

A tide of memories washed over her. The time when she did a humiliating act in front of the school for Brandon's entertainment. All the "favours" she had done for him, yet he had thrown it back in her face.

And now, she had almost killed herself (well, a tad bit of an exaggeration) just for a date with him.

God, she was daft.

Lily felt tears prick her eyes again.

She didn't like thinking negative about herself. She was always so sure that she was a good person that people loved. That people--

"_Lily_?"

She looked up, her teeth chattering, and saw James Potter looking down at her. He looked something beyond awed. What was more, he was by himself. Usually he was surrounded by his friends.

Lily didn't say anything.

"What happened to _you_?" James wanted to know. And without further ado, he slid into the seat beside her and set his tankard of Butterbeer on the wooden table.

"Nothing..." Lily murmured.

"Okay, that's cool," James said, staring into space.

Lily frowned at him.

"So where'd you get all the make up?"

She ignored him for a moment. Then she decided the question wasn't _that _insulting (not to mention random) and said, "What do you mean?"

"Well..." James looked her up and down, "The blue lipgloss, for one thing. And that pinkish white tan. Kinda like apple blossom. Oh yeah, and that stuff that you're drenched with. Body glo splash?"

Lily bit her lip, then she smiled.

James was weird, that was definite.

"It's not make up," she said simply, looking longingly at the frothy warm Butterbeer in front of her.

"Another Butterbeer, please," James called out loudly.

Lily blushed as the bar lady set a tankard of Butterbeer on the table.

"That's mine, don't touch it," James said dangerously. Then he grinned and said, "Just kidding. It's yours."

"Thank you," Lily muttered, reaching out. Her limp fingers weakly grasped onto the handle and she took a sip.

It was heaven.

"So if it's not make up, what is it?" James asked innocently, "You haven't been out in the rain _and_ snow in just _that_, have you?"

Really, what was it with people and _italics_?

"Yeah, actually," Lily murmured, drinking her Butterbeer gratefully. Another thing that made her feel warm and fuzzy inside was the fact that she was _enjoying_ Potter's company.

Actually _enjoying_ it.

Looking at his face, she knew she ought to explain a little.

So she did. Starting with her obsession with Brandon, to the idiotic things she had done, to the warnings Andii and Dee Dee had given her, to her last mental activity.

James stared blankly at the end of it all, while Lily looked at him expectantly, waiting for a response of some sort.

"You," James picked up his Butterbeer and took a long drink, "Have a messed up life."

Lily was so furious and surprised at his answer that she slopped some of her precious Butterbeer over him.

"_What_? Is that all you can say?" she burst out angrily, "You're... terrible!"

"Yeah, but not as bad as Brandon," James said grimly, picking up a pink napkin and dabbing his face delicately.

Lily couldn't say anything against that. In the last two hours, she had realised... that Potter was better than Brandon.

Much better.

She drained the last of her Butterbeer, and before she could stop him, James ordered two hot chocolates.

"So... you over this guy?" James asked casually, sprinkling hundreds and thousands over the frothy cream on his hot chocolate.

Lily shrugged, "I've decided boys aren't worth my time."

"You know," James said, looking and sounding quite serious, "There _are_ a few gems out there..."

Lily said nothing; her life was getting too romance-novelish for her liking. She took a sip of her hot chocolate and felt the warmth move down her throat.

Two seconds later, she set the china cup down.

"I'm sick of it all," she burst out, "I've been waiting for Brandon to notice me there, you know in those movies where the girl's always there but the guy's too daft to realise? And he's just dating girl after girl, totally disregarding the other girl who he takes for granted. I'm sick of it. In movies, the guy realises her in the end and they live happily ever after. But this isn't a movie, and in movies even the guy is half-decent. Brandon isn't."

James looked thoughtful.

"Well... maybe you've been living the wrong movie," he said softly, "Have you ever seen the movie where there's a girl who's in love with this guy that everyone seems to like? And then there's another boy in the background who really likes her, but she hates him because she thinks he's an arrogant little berk?"

Lily knew where he was getting at, and she didn't like it. But before she could say anything, James prodded on.

"The boy really does like her and he tries his best to make her notice him. But... she doesn't. And--"

"--the girl realises that boys aren't worth her time and shifts her concentration onto her studies," Lily finished with the air of finality.

James shot her a look, then sighed.

He loved that girl, but she was impossible.

After they finished their hot chocolates in silence, Lily searched for her money bag.

No way was she letting James pay for her. That'd be too much like a... like a _date_.

Like a thoughtful thing a _boyfriend_ would do for a _girlfriend_.

Lily searched everywhere, but couldn't find her money bag. It occurred to her it must've fallen out when she was running around, looking for Brandon.

What a day.

James seemed to realise what was going on.

"I'll pay," he said heavily.

To Lily's horror, a lump rose in her throat, and she burst into tears.

Well, to be honest, James had no bloody clue what was going on. He feverishly tried to work out how the two words "I'll pay" could cause girls to resort to tears.

But he tried to be a sensitive sort of guy and sat back down, nervously murmuring to Lily.

"Don't worry... it's only like three Galleons... you don't even have to pay me back..."

Lily almost laughed through her tears.

Because James was so _daft_.

"It's not that, you great big buffoon!" Lily said half-angrily. It was hard to figure out what her real tone was.

"Everything's going wrong and-- it's too much for me at the moment! Everyone has their weak moments, you know! And... my--... my parents might be getting a divorce."

At those words she lost all control and her elbows weakened. They slipped off the table and it was a good thing James was sitting right beside her.

Because Lily realised instantly that she would not be able to stay up by herself. She needed... support. Someone's company. Even if it was Potter's. Because Potter was better than nobody.

Her throat felt like it was going to explode and she burst into sobs again as she saw her carefully constructed life fall apart. Lily fell against James and, ashamed, buried her face in his jumper. She wasn't aware of what she was doing.

James was surprised. And shocked. And awed. And above all, confused. But even daft Mr. Potter saw that Lily was undergoing a lot of stress, and that she needed someone to help her.

Where was Deidre and Andii when you needed them?

But as Lily clung onto him and continued to cry, soaking his jumper, he realised maybe _he_ could do something to help her.

Like... _what_?

James pondered for a few seconds, utterly confused. He sure wished he was as smart and romantic as those dudes in those movies.

Well... James did like it (when he was upset) when his mother and father would hug him and say that everything would be alright...

Maybe he could do that.

Lily was crying out her depression and frustration on James, and was mightily surprised when she felt his arms wrap around her awkwardly.

"It'll be..." James was lost for words. If he said it'd be alright, he'd be lying, because he had no idea if everything was going to be alright.

"...a scary journey," he finished. Hey, he once heard his mother saying that to his father, "But you won't be alone."

Lily found his words... useless. And pointless. And corny.

But she smiled thinly, because hearing them coming from _James Potter_ meant something, at least.

So that was probably why she mumbled a, "Thanks."

Even though she still felt terrible and that she had nothing to live for. She could not understand why spending a few hours in the snow made her feel like this. So... _suicidal_.

Lily disliked suicidal people.

So what was she doing now?

She felt like she was on the brink of losing everything she ever dreamed of. She ever owned. And in the end, she'd be alone. Because her maybe torn-apart family won't be there for her anymore. She won't have Brandon to pretend he cared for her. Dee Dee and Andii had their own lives to go on with, and anyway, Lily wouldn't be surprised if they abandoned her because she had been so daft.

What she _really_ wanted... was someone who'd always be there for her.

But what were the odds of that?

_You can't get everything you want..._

What about what you needed, then?

The last of her sobs subsided and Lily steaded her breathing. James released her and looked down at her, looking concerned.

Lily looked down and thought hard about what she _needed_. Something to cling onto until her life returned back to normal-- or as normal as it could get.

It didn't have to be her soul mate. Just someone who cared for her.

Lily looked up at James.

He looked back at her. Then he bit his lip, got up and said, "You better get back to the castle. You'll freeze, otherwise."

She had no idea what to do. Then she seemed to come to a decision. Lily got up slowly and followed James to the door of the Three Broomsticks.

It was cold, but it had stopped raining.

James took off his cloak and draped it over her.

"Have it dry-cleaned and returned back to me by next week," he told her, before turning away and walking off.

Lily stared after him.

Then he came back.

"You want me to walk you back?"

She felt oddly warm underneath James' fuzzy and fluffy cloak. She didn't want to walk back to the castle by herself. She needed something, and James' offer to accompany her back seemed good enough.

So Lily nodded, and James, agreeably surprised, held out his hand.

"I don't want you dawdling behind me," he explained in a goofy way.

Lily shook her head slightly and smiled. She reached out and took his hand.

And hand in hand, they walked back through the snow-covered streets of Hogsmeade.

Lily's life was crumbling.

But at least she had something to hold onto.

----------

A/N: Ahh .. I wrote this over a year ago. Just read over it today and realised how many errors were in it, and also how much it .. 's not good! At all! It's awful, actually! I dunno why you guys bothered to review. Hehe. Anyway, THANK YOU SO MUCH ANYWAY! x) --MSQ.


	4. Happy Birthday, Fool!

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER AND A LOT OF THINGS TO DO WITH HIM! :)

NOTE: HI EVERYONE! I hope you like this one-shot. It was _kind of_ rushed, but I was trying to get it done on time. Then I finished it a few days early. (rolls eyes) I suppose you could call this a challenge that they have on HP websites.

But this is written for my very fabulous friend, JULZ! :) Happy birthday, fool. You're turning 14! You're, like, an entire year older than me. AGAIN. Grr. Hehe. I hope you like this. I _did_ try. :) And I hope you like this as a b'day pressie. It didn't cost anything but time and effort, like I said before. :D Man, I sound like a fool! Fool... hehehe. Okie doke, read on! And remember, you're not getting older. You're just getting closer to death. :) Lol, happy birthday m'dear.

**REQUIREMENTS** (made by THE one, THE only, JULLLLLLYAAAA)****

(ll) Humor category   
(ll) Set around Christmas   
(ll) Bad poetry   
(ll) Sirius dressed up as Santa   
(ll) Dumbledore wearing a flowery bonnet and really big socks   
(ll) Blue soup   
(ll) A mention of Hagrid   
(ll) Remus doing something   
(ll) Sirius to grab someone and start dancing silly   
(ll) An argument between Lily and James where Lily throws a snowglobe   
(ll) Peter with an obsession of mistletoe, hoping to get snogged   
(ll) Peter gets snogged by a Ravenclaw dumply girl   
(ll) Fight between L/J must be funny w/ Remus and Sirius commentating and Peter as the audience   
_(they were all used, by the way)_

**The MWPP Chronicles**

**All For Christmas Cookies**__

----------

"This is not good, my dear fellow Fred, if I keep doing this, soon I'll be dead," Sirius sang moodily, wearing pink rubber gloves and scrubbing a plate with a greenish-yellow sponge.

"My name isn't Fred," James retorted, chucking a rather damp dishcloth to the other side of the kitchen.

Sirius ignored him as he quite liked his "fabulous" poems, "The dishes are dirty, the house-elves are here, why get us to do this, when they do it all year!"

To everyone's disappointment if they were in the same room as them, James joined in.

"Oh, how I wish it were summer, I'd go off and swim--"

"--but we're stuck in here washing, can you pass me that tin?"

James gingerly passed Sirius a sauce-covered tin, which he dropped into the sink of foamy water and completely forgot about.

"And I thought I'd have more fun here, watching you guys serve detention than running around with Peter," came a voice behind them.

"Oh, hey Remmy!" Sirius greeted, watching in fascination at the bubbles that were flying through the air.

A grinning Remus Lupin was sitting on the bottom step that led from the portrait of the fruit bowl into the kitchen. There was no sign of a house-elf; they were all in the next kitchen cooking up a storm. This had been arranged because the last time Sirius had served detention in the kitchens along with the house-elves, Hogwarts students found themselves eating blue soup for dinner.

"Padfoot, hurry up!" James complained, "I've finished drying everything!"

"That's two cups and a plate," Remus remarked.

"Yeah, that's because _he's_ taking his damn time washing up!"

"Excuse me, I don't like being talked about behind my back," Sirius said in an offended tone, his back turned to them as he continued washing up at the sink.

"Turn around, then."

Sirius did not do anything; just dreamily sang under his breath and scrubbed the same spoon over and over.

"I can't believe we're here," moaned James, "Detention on Christmas Eve? Really now, it's quite preposterous!"

"Bloody well is, not to mention it's all _your_ fault," Sirius retorted, throwing a soapy spoon which hit James in the face.

"It was not _mine_! It was Lily's! We all know that," James exclaimed, rubbing his cheek.

Remus shook his head, "It was everyone's fault."

Sirius threw a plastic bowl he had finished washing at James, while saying thoughtfully, "You know--"

"Oh Merlin, you haven't just been washing and drying, have you?" Remus interrupted, his eyes widening.

"Errr--"

"You're supposed to _rinse_ it too!"

"...I can hear a didgeridoo," Sirius rhymed happily.

Remus put his face in his hands while James hurried towards the other sink and blasted cold water out of the tap.

Only his friends could land themselves in detention on Christmas Eve...

---

_Earlier that evening..._

It was a fine evening, and all was calm and merry in the common-room. That, however, might have been ruined by the fact that two sixteen-year-olds, Lily Evans and James Potter, weren't very happy with each other.

"I _cannot_ believe you!" Lily said angrily, her arms crossed firmly across her chest, "How _dare_ you do such a thing!"

"You are overreacting, woman!" James retorted, running his hand through his hair, "Grrrr..."

"GRRR!" Lily shot back.

"I can do it louder! GRRRR!"

"No way, everyone knows girls can "GRR" louder! _GRRRR_!"

"And oh-oh! Look at them, "GRR"ing like there's no tomorrow!" Sirius commentated through a mouthful of cookie dough.

"Oh yes, and they're off to a fine start, don't you think so Padfoot?" Remus asked, talking into his hairbrush. He and Sirius were seated on a couch with Peter, watching the famous two fight.

"I agree so, Mr. Moony! Honestly, it's wonderful the way they can argue from hot cake to another!" Sirius almost screamed into his rolled-up bit of parchment in enthusiasm.

"Yes, yes indeed. How did this argument start again?"

"Why, I believe 'twas when Lily seated herself to make some of her _fabulous_ Christmas cookies..." at this, Sirius drooled.

"Mmm, those are brilliant stuff. But honestly, why would you set up a cooking channel in the common-room with us around?" Remus asked matter-of-factly.

"Oh, _I know_. Anywho, Prongsie couldn't resist and took a gollop of cookie dough to eat," Sirius commentated, "The fool, honestly. Who eats raw cookie dough?" Shaking his head, he reached over to take another handful of delicious cookie dough from Lily's mixing bowl.

Remus looked at him oddly, before resuming back to his and Sirius' odd talk show.

"So-- wow, and would you look at that? Let's hear what they're arguing about now..."

"...you're very pretty," James said nochalantly, grinning at the redhead.

Lily glared at him, "And you have a head the size of the world."

"Not true!"

"Uh, yeah it is."

"Will you go out with me?"

"HA!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked a wounded James.

"It means you're a pratball," Lily shot back.

Remus and Sirius stared.

"Lovely stuff," Sirius said slowly, "Well uhh... this is Sirius Black, signing out."

He attacked the mixing bowl and began to lick the sides.

Remus shook his head, "And Remus Lupin... also signing out."

"Finally!" Peter blurted out. He had been watching Lily and James' argument a little absently. He seemed to have a lot on his mind, "Remus, Sirius! I need to find some mistletoe!"

"Some _what_?" spluttered Remus, having spat water all over the table.

There was a _slight_ rukus.

"I WILL NOT GO OUT WITH YOU!"

_CRASH._

"YOU STEPPED ON MY ADVENT CALENDAR! That's seven years bad luck, Lily," James said innocently.

"Mmmm... cookie dough," Sirius moaned, still licking the bowl.

Lily noticed him and her eyes widened in horror.

"BLACK!" she hollered, coming over to him, "You didn't-- you-- but-- _you didn't eat all the cookie dough, did you_?"

"Don't mind if I do!" Sirius said happily, snatching the bowl back and continuing his hunt for raw dough.

Lily was almost in tears.

James came over and touched her arm, "Go out with me?"

She just Looked at him.

"FOR THE LAST TIME POTTER, _NO_!" and she seized Peter's snowglobe and threw it at him before storming upstairs, sobbing slightly.

James rubbed his forehead where the snowglobe had hit him with full force.

"That hurt," he whimpered.

"Well done, James," Remus said boredly, "And you too, Sirius."

"Hmmm?"

"What did _I_ do?" asked James in a wounded voice.

"You were a jerk, even I saw that," Sirius said, finally giving up and tossing the mixing bowl aside whilst eyeing the wooden spoon, "You don't suppose Lily licked that, do you...?"

"Padfoot!" Remus almost yelled.

"What?"

"You ate all the cookie dough and now there'll be no LILY EVANS CHRISTMAS COOKIES," Remus said in a tearful voice.

Sirius gasped. Everyone knew Lily Evans' Christmas cookies were food for the angels. They were simply _scrumptious._

"Oh my... I didn't think of that. Well, the dough was very nice!"

Remus looked disgusted with his-- with his _friends_.

"Remus!" Peter whined.

"_What_?"

"I wanna get snogged!"

Sirius snorted but James continued to look sad and distant.

"Go snog yourself," Remus said tiredly.

"I wanna get snogged by a _girl_!"

Sirius looked at the wooden spoon and bit back a, "You _are_ a girl."

"Fine," Remus got to his feet, "_You two_--" James and Sirius jumped, "--had better come up with some clever idea to cheer Lily up, because _I_ want some cookies when I come back. Peter, you come with me and we will find some mistletoe for you to get snogged under with a girl. Sirius, stop laughing."

"I'm not laughing," Sirius said innocently.

Remus snorted as he and a very merry Peter skipped out of the common-room.

Sirius turned to James.

"Prongsie."

"Yeah?"

"I wanna get snogged too."

"Go snog yourself."

"No, getting snogged is _second_ on my Christmas wish list," Sirius said excitedly.

"Oh," James replied dully, "What's first?"

"I wanna eat Christmas cookies."

"Go eat some Christmas cookies."

"_No_, I don't want to eat _any_ Christmas cookies."

"Go eat some non-any Christmas cookies."

"I wanna eat _Lily's_ Christmas cookies?"

James' ears pricked up, "Did you say Lily?"

"Yep, Lily's _Christmas cookies_."

"_Lily's_ Christmas cookies?"

"Yeah!" Sirius frowned because James was acting very odd, "Prongsie, there will be no Lily's cookies if she's sad."

"I know."

Sirius grabbed Remus' abandoned hairbrush and whacked James on the head with it.

"OW! Bloody hell!" James yelped, rubbing his head, "What was that for?"

"You're an idiot."

"_What_?" James spluttered. It was amazing, being called an idiot by the world's biggest idiot.

"It's so simple, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed, "We cheer Lily up, she won't be sad anymore and she makes Christmas cookies!"

"Then why did you hit me?!"

"Because I expected you to come up with a plan to cheer Lily up! But don't worry," Sirius got a huge maniac grin, "_I_ have an idea!"

And he dragged a bewildered James upstairs.

---

"Peter, what in the name of Merlin do you think you're doing?" Remus asked, trying to hide the groan in his voice.

The two were wandering around the Hogwarts halls, as Peter was hoping to find some pretty girl he could snog under some of the hidden mistletoe Dumbledore had put up.

Peter was walking around, holding his wand straight up as if was voting. His wand, however, was "cleverly" disguised. It had a piece of poison ivy taped to it, a bit of tinsel wrapped around the top, and a scrap piece of parchment that read "MISTLETOE-DETECTOR - Copyright Co. to Sirius Black."

"Shhh! Talking distracts the detector," Peter hissed, looking very intently at his wand.

"Wormtail, that thing was made by _Sirius_," Remus said with a sigh, "I don't think you should--"

Peter's wand suddenly began to hiss and spit sparks.

"MISTLETOE!" he yelped triumphantly, shoving his wand at Remus, "Merlin, I need to buy some more stuff off Sirius--"

"And who are you gonna snog?" interrupted an irritated Remus.

Peter's face fell. Then he grumbled as he grabbed back his "mistletoe-detector" and huffed, "Can't blame a boy for trying, can you?"

Rolling his eyes, they set off to find some unlikely girl that would be willing to snog Peter under some mistletoe detected by a contraption invented by _Sirius Black_.

Honestly, what were the odds?

---

"This is bloody insane," James muttered.

"It is not!" Sirius said irritably, "Prongs, you are being deliberately discouraging! How _dare_ you!" And he threw a tube of lip gloss at him.

"OW!" James yelled.

"Okay, this is it," Sirius said, his voice muffled. It was muffled because he had shoved a beard made of out cotton-wool over his mouth, "This will definitely cheer Lilykins up, so she'll be happy, and happy means she'll make Christmas cookies! Yay. How do I look?"

James surveyed him critically.

"Like an idiot."

"A _handsome_ idiot," Sirius said reprovingly, as he admired his reflection, "A _handsome, dashy, sexy, gorgeous, Elfraudering_ idiot."

"What the--?"

"TALLY HO, AMIGO!" Sirius screamed happily, charging out of the dorm.

James rolled his eyes.

Then he froze.

"SIRIUS!"

And he chased after him.

---

The common-room was nice and peaceful. Lily was sitting by herself, wondering how she ever got to know such prats as James. And Sirius. She was having a staring contest at her book.

"HO, HO-- OUCH!"

A series of thumps and repeated "OW!"s caught the attention of the few students in the common-room. They all looked up at alarm towards the boys' dormitory stairs, where what seemed to be a great fluffball of white and red was tumbling down. There were a few merry jingles, a token that this person or _thing_ had little bells attached to them.

Lily raised her eyebrows.

It was Santa Claus, cursing and righting the cotton-wool beard he was wearing.

"Errr, ho ho ho," he yodelled, attempting to be cheerful.

"Padfoot!" James yelled, tearing down the stairs, "You forgot your hat!"

Santa Claus turned around and his hand immediately jumped to his hatless dark brown hair.

"Oh _bloody hell_!" he cursed, grabbing the red Father Christmas hat from James and shoving it on his head. He then bounded into the middle of the common-room, in front of the fireplace, so everyone could see him and point and laugh.

Ha ha.

"Good evening, children. _I_ am the man of your dreams! SANTA CLAUS! Bwahahaha. I can give out presents, of course, but BEWARE! I give out coal too..."

James walked closer to him.

"Padfoot, this isn't going to work. Everyone knows you aren't S--"

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP! I _am_ Santa Claus and no one can prove me wrong!" Santa Claus yelled unhappily. His eyes then crinkled up in what Lily thought was a forced smile as he walked over to her.

"Happy Christmas, m'dear!" he sat in her lap and wrapped his arms around her neck, "And what do _you_ want this Christmas?"

James looked terribly unhappy and jealous, "OI! Get _off_ her, Siri--"

"YOU WANT A PONY?" roared Santa Claus, yelling over James, "REALLY, M'DEAR? WELL, WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF I SAID I WANTED A DINOSAUR?"

Lily stared at him oddly. She was scared, yet amused. And she felt slightly flattered when she caught James' look of jealousy. It was sweet that someone was jealous of someone else because of her.

Lily bit back a smile as Santa's brown eyes pentrated her's, "HMMM? NO DINOSAUR?"

"Sirius, get off her--" James whined.

"Who's Sirius? I don't know any Sirius," Santa Claus said haughtily, jumping off Lily. He began to do the can-can, "I-I a-aam am the-e-e-e Santa Claus! I can cheer you up! And down... but mainly up!"

Lily couldn't take it anymore; she began to giggle.

"YES!" Santa Claus (or _was_ he?) suddenly had a different voice as he did a leap into the air, "She LAUGHS, SHE'S HAPPY, SHE SHOOTS, SHE SCORES...! AND WE GET COOKIES! YAY!"

He tore off his beard, ripped off the red suit he was wearing to reveal his normal clothes underneath, kicked off the big, heavy, black shoes and tore off his hat before running over to James.

"Padfoot--"

Sirius was beyond estastic; he linked his arm with his best friend and danced around with him in circles. Then he dragged him out of the common-room.

"Where are we going?" asked a bewildered James.

"To find Remmy and Peteykins!" Sirius said jubiantly, "We get cookies now, so we have to spread the news! Otherwise, you aren't really an Elfrauder!"

He skipped off.

"What the heck is an Elfrauder?" James yelled, chasing after him.

---

Remus was annoyed.

He was really, really annoyed.

He was really, really, really annoyed.

They had found some girls for Peter to snog, but there was no-bloody-mistletoe.

"Who cares? Just go snog them!" he tried telling him without screaming at the rat.

"But there's no mistletoe!"

So they spent half an hour circling the area, looking for girls to snog _and_ mistletoe.

But when they found mistletoe, there were no girls. When they found girls, there was no mistletoe.

It was remarkably irritating.

Remus was now losing his cool and patience. To be completely honest, he felt like knocking the bloody stuffing out of Peter.

"Remus, I think there's some mistletoe-- my wand's sparking a bit, but maybe it's 'cause--" _poke_, "--oh, never mind."

_Clench teeth and slowly take deep breaths._

"Ooh, look! There's some girls ahead! --Ah, they're running away."

_Count to ten... one, two..._

"Moony, Sirius' mistletoe-detector is failing a bit. There's obviously some mistletoe here but it isn't sparking... Oh, it's poison ivy."

_...three, four, five..._

"MY WAND'S NOT WORKING! Remus-- REMUS!"

"WHAT?" Remus yelled. Peter looked terrified and flinched.

"LOOK, THERE'S A GIRL. GO SNOG HER!" Remus shouted, grabbing Peter and steering him towards a dumply Ravenclaw.

"But-- there's no--" squeaked Peter.

"I DON'T CARE! GO SNOG HER!"

Peter screwed up all his determination, "NO!"

"GO!" Remus pushed him even closer. 

"NO!"

"GO!"

"NO!"

"GO!"

"NO!"

"GO! _SNOG, _NOW!"

Peter was pushed into the Ravenclaw and they met at the lips.

Remus watched for a moment, felt sick, turned away and closed his eyes.

"PETTIGREW!" came a sharp voice.

---

Minerva McGonagall was having a bad Christmas Eve. She was walking around Hogwarts, but everywhere she looked, she saw snogging couples. It reminded her of how _alone_ she was.

Sniff sniff.

She had just rounded a corner when she saw _Pettigrew_ snogging a little dumpling of a girl in Ravenclaw. Okay, it was a nice match, but _honestly_! Pettigrew _snogging_?

Minerva had had enough. She marched right over and yelled, "PETTIGREW! That will be quite enough, thank you!"

Remus Lupin looked immensely relieved to see her there. Pettigrew and the girl immediately broke apart. The girl looked terrified that she had kissed _him_, and terrified of Professor McGonagall herself. Unable to say anything, she let out a cry and ran off.

My, but Minerva pitied that girl.

"Professor," Pettigrew said in a sly, cheeky voice he had adopted from Sirius and James, "There _are_ no rules against snogging."

Minerva suddenly had an idea.

A good idea.

No, a brilliant one!

"Oh, you think that now, don't you?" she said in a strangely evil voice, "Well, we'll see about that! Next student I catch snogging in the corridor will recieve _detention_!"

And she ran off to tell Dumbledore _all_ about it.

---

"...and so Albus, I wish for this rule to come into existence as soon as possible," Minerva finished. Her pleading eyes and desperate position did not show how astonishingly shocked she was when she entered Dumbledore's office to find the man himself wearing a flowery bonnet and fairly large, knee-high, red and white striped toe socks.

On top of that, he had been cheerily singing Christmas carols with the odd paintings he had in his office.

"Why, Minerva," the wise man said cheerfully, "I do not wish to object to anything you propose, but really, the children are only having a bit of fun. After all, it is Christmas Eve!"

"It sets a bad example to the younger students," gabbled Minerva, "Please, Albus,_ please_."

"Well, alright," Dumbledore said lightly, adjusting his bonnet, "But only _no_ snogging in the corridor. They may find refuge in broom closets and empty classrooms, and I daresay their dormitories."

Feeling slightly sick, Minerva squealed a, "Thank you, Headmaster!" and snatched the parchment with the new school rule on it from Dumbledore.

"You're welcome," Dumbledore said to his office door as it swung shut.

"Odd woman, she is," said one of his portraits.

"Mmmhmm."

_DING_.

Dumbledore glanced over at the source of the noise and smiled, "Ah, it is time."

He reached over to his drawer and pulled it open to reveal several long, toe socks.

"Red with the snowmen on them?" he asked the opinion of a nearby painting.

"I think the green one with the reindeers are nicer!" piped up a squeaky voice.

"So it is..." Dumbledore pulled out the aforementioned sock and began to adorn them after taking off his red and white striped ones.

---

"DUDE!" James suddenly yelled, stopping abruptly. Sirius wheeled to a stop and turned around.

"What?"

"Well, we're off to find Moony and Wormtail to tell them that Lily's making cookies, right?" James asked Sirius solemnly.

"Yeah," he replied, looking confused and a bit annoyed.

"We're not even sure if she's making them! You just _assumed_ that because she giggled, she's happy, and so she's gonna make them. Well, what if she _isn't_ gonna make 'em?!"

Sirius gasped, "Good _Merlin_! Let's go back right now and ask her!"

James grabbed his arm at once, "No way, man! Who cares, maybe she _is_ making cookies--"

"We need to be sure--"

"--c'mon, let's just go and find Remus and Pete, then we'll tell 'em! I mean, we want Moony to be happy, right? And he was pretty damn pissed when he left us to cheer Lily up. The thought of cookies will make him happy! We don't want him to be angry for the entire time he's with Peter! He could _explode_!"

Sirius bit his lip and murmured, "Okay..." before James dragged him off.

They looked for their two friends for a further thirty seconds when Sirius suddenly stopped.

"AGH! I can't _take_ it anymore! I _have_ to ask and confirm with Lily that she's making cookies! That's the only reason why I dressed as Santa Claus! Sorry, Prongs! Err, you can look for them... uhh--"  
  
And he ran off.

James stared after him for a moment. Then he shrugged and continued his search for his more _saner_ friends.

---

"Lily, LILY!" Sirius almost screamed as he saw the redhead about to walk back into the common-room, though if he was more aware of his surroundings he'd probably wonder what she was doing out of the common-room in the first place.

"Yeah?" Lily turned around.

"Are you making Christmas cookies?" Sirius asked, desperate hope in his eyes.

"Err..." Lily concentrated for a second, "Why does it matter?"

Sirius almost exploded. WHY DOES IT MATTER?!

"Because!" he cried, looking shocked, "Because they're friggin' tasty! No Christmas is complete without them!"

Lily giggled, which he took as a good sign, and said, "Well, I'll take that as a compliment. Alright then, I'll make them if they're really _that_ important."

And she turned around and walked into the common-room. 

SHE WAS MAKING COOKIES!

Sirius leapt for joy and yelled, "WHOOHOO!" Then he grabbed onto the bewildered blonde girl passing him and began to dance around with her. He didn't stop jumping and twirling and screaming and looking like an idiot until _someone_ screamed his name.

"SIRIUS BLACK!"

---

"Okay, Namie, truth or dare?" asked a snobby-looking girl with dark ringlets and coal black eyes.

"Dare," Namie answered reluctantly. Dares were sometimes humiliating, but the truth was always much worse. Things spread quickly at Hogwarts.

A group of second-year girls were sitting at the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall, playing a nice little game of Truth or Dare. They were extremely giggly and loud, and pissed the pants off the other older students in the Great Hall.

"Alright then," the coal-black eye girl (Rinatta) said after whispering with the girl beside her, "I dare you to kiss James Potter! On the lips, mind you."

The Japanese girl blushed, which made her look like a China doll for a moment. Then gradually, she seemed to accept it and nodded slowly.

"Okay," Namie replied confidently, "Fine. Where is he?"

"Oh, he just came in," giggled the brunette beside Rinatta, "That's why we dared you!" 

Blushing all over again, Namie turned her delicate head and let out a small whimper.

"Come on, Namie! We'll come with you," Rinatta got up and dragged the poor girl towards James, who was wondering WHERETHEHELLREMUSANDPETERWERE.

"Hey Hagrid," James greeted the tall man who had just finished helping Professor Montreal put up the decorations on a tall Christmas tree.

"Well, hey James," Hagrid replied gruffly with a warm smile, "What's happenin' in your life?"

James thought about his fight with Lily and how weird his friends were, "Err -- nothing much. What about you?"

Hagrid shrugged, "Nothin' much, either. Can't complain. Well, I best be off. See you later."

"Yeah, bye," James replied, his mind a little distant. He stopped for a moment to think, which may explain how a Japanese second-year surrounded by a bunch of giggly girls had suddenly turned up in front of him when he tuned back.

"Um, hey. James Potter?" the Japanese girl asked timidly.

"Yeah."

"Well... thisisadare," and she placed her lips on his'.

_Oh, CRAP!_ _What the hell is happening?_

Lalala...

"POTTER!" hollered an angry voice. 

James immediately sprang back, as did the second-year.

"Professor!" squealed a girl with incredibly black eyes, and she and her friends scarpered off.

"Hey, wait!" the one who had kissed him called after squeakily. Blushing furiously, she turned back to James, "Sorry, it was a dare!"

And she ran off.

A bewildered James was left standing there to face the wrath of Professor McGonagall.

"Potter!" she said sharply, "Snogging! In the Great Hall! Breaking a school rule!"

"Really?" James asked dazedly.

Professor McGonagall shrugged, "Yeah, it's a new rule I passed through. No snogging in public areas."

"Oh."

"Well, you'll have to be punished..." she continued, wondering why James was so slow, "So detention, Potter. Ah heck, it's Christmas. I'll be nice. You can serve detention with Mr. Black tonight in the kitchens. I believe the house-elves need help in cleaning up."

"Was Sirius snogging a girl too?" James asked sharply. His mind had jumped to conclusions. Sirius had went to find Lily. Lily was a girl. Sirius had been caught snogging.

It was _very_ suspicious.

"Well..." Professor McGonagall shrugged, "It _looked_ like it, and I wasn't about to take any chances. Oh," she added as she saw James' look, "Don't worry, Potter. It wasn't with Miss Evans. It was with Myra Kings, you know that blonde Hufflepuff?"

"Which one?" James said dully, though he felt relieved.

To his utter surprise, Professor McGonagall smiled.

"Well, Potter, I expect you and Mr. Black will do a fine job tonight in the kitchens," and she walked off. 

James stood there, a little dazed all over again.

---

_Back to the kitchens..._

"Dude!" Sirius wailed, chucking the sponge at the wall, "I just realised something. Lily never made the cookies! I'm gonna cry now."

Remus and James shared perplexed glances.

"So where's Wormtail?"

Remus shrugged, "Still looking for more girls to snog. He's firmly convinced that he can snog any girl he wants now, since he snogged that dumpling of a Ravenclaw."

Sirius was sobbing tragically.

The portrait swung open and the three boys looked up to see who had entered.

It was Lily.

"Hi," she smiled somewhat shyly, "Err... do you mind if I made my Christmas cookies in here?"

"Hi Lily," James said automatically, "Of course you may. I'll help."

"YOU'RE MAKING COOKIES?!" shrieked Sirius, leaping up, "YAY!"

Remus smiled and shook his head. Then he moved towards the sink where James had abandoned his rinsing to help Lily, and began to do it for him.

"Really," he muttered to Sirius ten minutes later, when a giggling Lily was trying to bat away James who wanted to lick the spoon, "I dunno why she just doesn't go out with him."

"It's more interesting this way," Sirius said logically, finally finishing the washing up and putting the sponge away, "They like the sparks they create when they argue."

"Well, even if they do get together, they'll be fighting every second anyway."

"Hmmm... you're right. And why does Prongs get to eat some cookie dough? I want some too!" Sirius whined.

Remus rolled his eyes and wiped a plate dry, "Some things just never change..."

----------

AN: HEHEHE. Odd. Very odd. Very random. I hope you all understood that. If you didn't, email me! :) And I'd like some feedback too! Hehe. I hope it made you laugh. 'Specially you, Julz! :) Happy birthday! --MSQ.


	5. Many Happy Returns

Disclaimer: AHOY HOY! xD I don't own: JO'S BLURDY WONDERFUL CREATIONS, the requirements you see, the sexii Christmas carols xD, the song "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo" (which belongs to The Bloodhound Gang), and... stuff. x)

**x):** This lil story is for FUZZY! xD Well, another year has passed since the "All For Christmas Cookies" story was posted for your birthday (well, a year and couple of months xP) and it's amazingly odd that _that_ fic had a Christmas theme although it was posted in October... and _this_ one's being posted nearer to Christmas. I'm NOT MAKING ANY SENSE sooo... happy birthday my bosom. :) I know I am... two months and eleven days late... but you know how busy your lil Uzzie has been with exams and camp and stuff. x) Anywho, I hope you enjoy your (errr) present? And I'M SORRY IT'S SO LATE! And slightly rushed... _very_ rushed. x( But... it's the thought that counts. Right? Right.

xD

Tee-hee.

I LUFF YOU FUZZY YOU'RE MY FUZZY! YET AGAIN YOU APPEAR TO BE AN ENTIRE YEAR OLDER THAN ME! DON'T GROW UP TOO FAST OR I'LL LOCK YOU IN ANTI-AGING BOX AND KICK ANYONE WHO TRIES TO GET THE KEY! xD

**Your Requirements**

must include:  
- a really, really hot day  
- someone with pale skin going mental about the heat; try and hide under every piece of clothing they can find until finally finding sunscreen  
- a toupee  
- chicken schnitzel  
- a dress-up birthday party of Barbie and Ken dolls  
- shiny, shiny, shiny red tight pants on a guy  
- Peter laughing stupidly a lot  
- Fat Lady getting drunk  
- a huge fight between Lily and James  
- a gramaphone  
- Slughorn, McGonagall, Dumbledore  
- Hagrid  
- tight pants-wearing guy dancing at the party

_Note: They were all somewhatedly fulfilled... though some not very well. Not very well indeed._

**The MWPP Chronicles**

**Many Happy Returns x)**

----------

"Are you mad, mad, _mad_?"

James Potter was wading through the crowd of students as they merrily walked to classes in their groups. He was struggling to get away from one of his Chasers on his Quidditch team; he had grown very accustomed to her, relating to her like a younger sister, but found her completely unbearable sometimes.

"No, no and no, Anna!" he called over his shoulder desperately, trying to break into a run without her realising he was - err - _fed up_ with her.

"But James!" Anna yelled, jumping up and down as she was separated from James by seven tall students, "I can't - I _won't_ - "

"Sorry, I NEED TO URINATE!" James hollered, and with an offhand sort of wave he sped off down the corridor, praying to Merlin that she wouldn't follow.

He turned the corner and found himself in a deserted hall. With a sigh of relief, he began to walk at normal pace. A couple of steps later, James thought he heard someone behind him.

_Please don't let it be Anna, please don't let it be Anna_, he found himself thinking desperately.

"Oh, _Jaaaaaaaames_," a voice sort of - _crooned_.

James spun around, terrified, and almost died of relief when he saw Sirius standing there, looking like he had just missed out on winning a lifetime supply of Fizzing Whizbees.

Pity. He loved those.

"What's up with you?" James asked in an annoyed voice as to cover up his relief. As soon as the words slipped out of his mouth, he instantly regretted it. Sirius had been acting odd for days now.

Sirius sighed heavily, as he had done the last eleven times James made the mistake of asking him what was wrong, and cast his eyes downward, as he had done the last six times when asked what was the matter, and began in a tragic sort of voice full of woe, "It is the month of May, our examinations draw nearer, and I haven't got a pretty lady in my arms to relieve me of my stress. No lovely soothing voice to sing me lullabies while I sleep with my head in her lap, no tight cuddles to share our passionate feelings for each other, and NO SNOGGING, PRONGS, NO SNOGGING TO HELP ME IN THIS TIME OF DISTRESS!"

Just when Sirius sounded like he could be a romantic, he'd ruin it all.

"You know, it's funny," James said dully, still briskly walking as he had realised he really _did_ need to go to the bathroom, "I'd already heard all that before."

Sirius didn't seem to have heard. He was singing a song he had apparently just made up on the spot, "Lonely... I'm mister lonely... I have nobody... all on my _owwwwwwn_!"

James flinched as he reached a high note.

"Really neat, mate, really neat," he said gingerly, patting Sirius on the shoulder, "Listen, I really need to - "

"Yeah, I heard you before," Sirius said abruptly, sounding more like his usual self now, "But I need to ask you something."

"What?"

"Are you serious about having an all-day Quidditch practice on Saturday?" Sirius demanded. His jaw dropped when James nodded, "Have mercy, Prongs! It's the weekend! And it's going to be so _hot_. This heat is driving me mental!" As if to emphasize his point, he pulled his collar and flapped it to cool himself down.

"Right, well if that's it..." James put his hand on the bathroom handle.

"Wait!"

James winced, "Well out with it if you don't want me to wet myself!"

"It's Moony," Sirius said, now sounded bright, "It's the big one-seven next week, so it's got to be extra good."

James froze; he had forgotten about Remus' birthday. Every year, they threw a huge party for him in the Gryffindor common-room. The poor bloke. Remus lived a hard life, and his friends tried all they could to make him enjoy it.

"Oooh, yeah," James said slowly, his mind racing, "Yeah, I knew that. So what were you thinking of?"

"A fancy dress up party," Sirius said blissfully.

With his bladder about to let loose at any moment, James automatically nodded without really thinking and whipped into the bathroom. Absolutely content now that James had assented to his idea, Sirius walked off with a lighter step, _almost_ forgetting about his loneliness.

---

"You know, Anna, if you really didn't want to go to practice on Saturday, you could've just _said_ so."

"I did," Anna groaned as if every word was causing her great pain, which it probably was, "But you made it - urggh - pretty clear that you - weren't - gonna - owwww - cancel - argggggh - it."

Her fellow Chaser Danielle shook her head, "Great Merlin, Anna... there's a huge chance we're going to be playing Ravenclaw in these conditions, anyway. But _you_ just had to go ahead and eat an entire pound of Doxy eggs, like the idiot you are."

"At least I won't be sweating like a pig," Anna muttered, her eyes fluttering shut.

"Alright, you lot better go to bed now," Madam Tiffany bustled over, cooling herself with an elegant Chinese-style fan, "She'll be staying here for a week, no doubt about that."

James shook his head despairingly as he and the rest of his team walked out of the hospital wing. Once they were out in the corridor, they began to bombard him with questions. He wished they wouldn't. His head was throbbing already.

"Well, we just need to find a replacement, that's all," he said wearily, running a hand through his hair.

Danielle's jaw dropped open, "That's _all_? Anna's the only one who can fly, and work well with us too!"

The other Chaser's look plainly agreed with Danielle. Sirius, his fellow Beater and their wiry Seeker stepped forward, looking at James seriously. They had grown accustomed to winning the Quidditch Cup, and weren't about to step down from it now.

"Well..." James closed his eyes and tried to remember the tryouts at the beginning of the year. His face suddenly broke into a wan smile, "...Aha. There _was_ one other person who flew really well..."

"Who?" Danielle demanded aggressively, and the rest of the team nodded indignantly.

"Lily Evans."

---

James spend the next day cornering Lily, whom he had nursed quite a soft spot for over the past few years. She was just so... _perfect_. Sweet-faced, shiny red hair, those sparkling green eyes, a short girl whom he could tower over, with an awful hot temper.

Yup. Definitely perfect.

He was kind of scared of her, though. She had a way with words, and her curses really were extraordinary.

"Err - Lily?" James said in his most polite and mature voice, on their way out of class.

"Yes, James?" Lily replied in an equally polite voice. They had learnt to be civil, seeing as they were Head Boy and Head Girl and were required to work with each other. James had also 'deflated' his head a bit and, to his surprise, Lily had started to become more human towards him.

"I need to ask you something..."

Lily sighed and stopped abruptly. She looked at him beadily and said, "James, if you're going to order me out on a date to Hogsmeade, that really would be a nicer way of asking me, but it's still a no."

James was so confused for a moment that he laughed out loud when he realised what she had just said.

"It's not like that! Though, you know, if you'd really like to..."

Lily raised an eyebrow but James couldn't help noticing the smile that was tugging on the corner of her lips.

"I'm just kidding. Err," James still wasn't sure Lily would take kindly to the favour he had to ask her, "The thing is... you know Anna?"

"You mean the little Chaser girl on your team?" Lily gave a tiny shudder, "You know, she's really cute and all, but she's got a really... high-pitched voice."

"Yeah, tell me about it," James grinned, suddenly feeling a bit odd and nervous, "Well, she ate some Doxy eggs because she wanted to get out of Quidditch practice."

Lily stopped abruptly and whirled around, her eyes wide with shock, "Great Merlin! Is she alright?"

"Wha?" James had been staring into her radiant green eyes and had temporarily forgotten about what he had said, "Oh! Yeah. Never better. I mean, as well as someone who's just swallowed a load of poison could be. So anyway, we're short a player, and Lily, you did brilliantly at the tryouts, and so I was thinking, I mean we all thought, that it'd be really brilliant if you could play for us instead, because we need you to win the Quidditch Cup, so yeah, whatd'yasay?"

Lily's eyes widened, as she had by some miracle understood James.

"Oh, no, James, no, no, no," she backed away from him, "You know I only tried out because I was dared!"

"But you were really good!" James said desperately, refraining himself from stepping closer because he knew she'd only back away more, "Lily, we _need_ you!"

"_No_, James, no!" Lily looked stricken. She turned around and started to run, clutching her bag.

James looked after her despairingly, very quickly debating what he should do. Run after her and risk being hit by a hex? Or just leave it and find some decent third-year to fill in for Anna?

_No, we've got to win that Cup!_ _And Lily was the best after Anna!_

"LILY!" James yelled when he reached his decision; he began to pound after her, "Just - WAIT!"

"JAMESITOLDYOUNOYOUKNOWICAN'TFLY!" Lily screeched back in one breath, running to no avail as James was faster than her.

"You can fly! I saw you!" James grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to stop, "Lily, _please, please, please_. Do it for Gryffindor!"

"James!" Lily had flushed bright pink now, "I don't do these... in front of the whole school... I'm _shy_!"

James stared at her, dumbfounded. When he finally found his voice, he said, "No you're not."

For if Lily was shy, James was sure the grass was orange. Lily was definitely not _shy_. What on earth was she talking about? She was feisty, outgoing, loud, full of ideas and ready to voice her opinion.

"Okay, so maybe I'm not," Lily said quickly, "But STILL!"

"But _still_ what?" James demanded in good humor.

"But still... BYE!" she turned around and tore down the corridor extremely fast.

"Wha - HEY!" James ran after her yet _again_, and tackled her into the wall, causing lots of thumps and "ow!"s and whatnot. Finally, they straightened themselves up, and James made sure she couldn't run off again.

"Look, can you please just turn up for practice tomorrow and we'll see how well you perform and fit in with the rest of the team? Please?" he begged before Lily could open her mouth.

She bit her lip, "But..." James looked at her hopefully, "...it's going to be so hot."

James felt so relieved he grinned, "That's what they all say... Okay, how about this. Every time you feel like a drink or a break or a rest I'll grant you one. I don't do that for anyone else, so you should really consider it."

Lily looked at him with her head to one side as she thought about it. Then slowly, the most beautiful smile (in James' opinion) unfurled across her face and she said, "Alright James... you better stick to your promise."

"Thanks, Lily!" James scooped her into a big hug before he realised what he was doing, "See you tomorrow!" And he turned back in the direction he had came from and started to run again.

Lily stood there, looking a bit ruffled but pleased nonetheless.

"This doesn't mean I'm playing in the match!" she remembered to yell after him. James waved his hand dismissively. She smiled and continued on her way to the Astronomy tower.

---

James entered the Great Hall the next morning, feeling cheerful. Beside him, Peter was laughing in an annoying and stupid sort of way. It sounded a lot like, "_Heckle heckle_." He hadn't gone mad; Remus had just told Sirius off for his constant groaning for a snogfest, and Peter found it amusing.

No, hilarious.

"_Heckle, heckle. Heckle, heckle._"

"Get a grip of yourself, Wormtail," James finally said after five minutes. Peter immediately snorted as he halted his laughing, but this only made him laugh more.

Sirius moaned and buried his head in his arms.

"Don't start about that again," Remus said warningly, piling his plate with eggs.

"I wasn't gonna..." Sirius murmured into his arms, "I was gonna start about today... Quidditch practice... _today_... Prongs, are you listening?"

"Hmmm?" James said lightly, with a smile on his face, "Um... no, I wasn't, actually." He felt rather elated at the prospect of having Lily's company for several hours that morning, bossing her around and being able to watch her get all hot and sweaty...

Good Merlin, that sounded pricky.

"It is so _hot_ today," Peter said in an annoyed voice, having stopped laughing. He picked up a napkin and started fanning himself furiously as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"You don't say," Sirius shot at him as he was already sulky enough, "But at least you don't have to be out there... flying in the sun's ray... getting fried... OH PRONGS PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO ME!"

"_Heckle, heckle. Heckle, heckle, HARF, heckle._"

"Huh?"

James was snapped out of his little daydream when he was suddenly jerked forward. Sirius had collapsed onto his knees on the ground and grabbed the front of James' robes with a pleading look.

"Padfoot!" James half-exclaimed, half-laughed, "Have you gone _mental_?"

Sirius continued to cling onto his robes.

"Get up, mate, people are staring."

"And is that your final word?"

"Yes," James said with a hint of exasperation, "I'm not cancelling the practice, alright? So take it like a man, get off your knees and _sit back down_!"

"Fine," Sirius said sullenly.

Rolling his eyes and wondering when Sirius would snap out of this sulky mood soon, because it was starting to get on his nerves, James went back to his breakfast and was about to recollect his thoughts when someone poked him in the back.

"James!"

Smiling broadly, James looked up, "Hullo, Lily."

Lily looked very windswept; her red hair was sticking up all over the place and a few strands had fallen loose. She was clutching onto the arm of another girl, who also looked very ruffled. Both of them were slightly breathless. James guessed they had ran here.

"Yeah, hi James, well, this is my friend Sarah," Lily said very quickly, shoving the girl with dirty blonde hair in front of her. Sarah smiled uncertainly at James, who quickly smiled back and lifted a hand in greeting.

"She's good at flying and knows how to pass and catch a Quaffle, and she'd _love_ to play!" Lily exclaimed feverishly, "So what do you think, James? Let her take Anna's spot instead. She's willing!"

Sarah nodded.

"Err..." James looked at her. She didn't look very Quidditch-y, to be completely honest. But then again, neither did Lily. And she had proved to be quite an excellent Chaser, hadn't she?

"I... I'm not sure, Lily," James said uncertainly, "I mean, I haven't seen her play or anything. Where were you at the tryouts?" he suddenly asked Sarah.

"She forgot about them, alright?" Lily answered before Sarah even opened her mouth, "James, give her a shot, _please_!"

Vaguely wondering where the spirit for winning the Quidditch Cup was, James clamped his mouth shut and nodded solidly. Lily positively beamed at him. Ahh... well it was _almost_ worth it...

"Right, well, we'll both be there in an hour," Lily said brightly, linking her arm with her friend's again, "Thanks, James!"

He watched, slightly dazed, as they half-skipped, half-galloped down the Gryffindor table.

"Right," he muttered, turning back to his breakfast with a heavy heart, "Let's see how this goes..."

"Hey Prongs," Sirius asked, "Who was that girl?"

---

Ten minutes into practice, James was regretting allowing Sarah take Anna's place instead of Lily. It soon became clear - no, _certain_ - that Sarah had no experience whatsoever in Quidditch. The rest of the team were shooting James murderous looks, but they didn't say anything; rather, the Bludgers and Quaffle seemed to almost unseat him more often than usual.

Lily had come out to the pitch with her friend and promised to stay there, but she was being no real help. She was running around, ducking under the trees and stands to avoid the powerful sun rays of that day. Under any other circumstances, James would have found this adorable; but today, the sight of her screaming and covering herself with every article of clothing she could find vexed him to no end.

"Err, Prongs," muttered a sweltering Sirius; he lowered his bat to wipe the sweat off his forehead, "Mate, you need to get that girl off."

"He's right," Danielle growled; her face was red and her hair was damp with sweat, "It's bad enough you're making us practice in this weather, but to put this girl on us - " she made an alarmingly ferocious movement with her arms, "What happened to Lily, huh?"

"She - " James spluttered, trying to ignore how incredibly hot it was, "She had her reasons for not playing - "

Danielle snorted loudly, "Yeah, what were they? The heat? Funny, I don't see you letting _us_ off about that - "

"You just keep flying!" James scowled at her. Danielle did as she was told, but not before shooting him one last look of pure venom and saying audibly, "Put your personal feelings for this girl aside, Potter..."

Anger boiled and James pelted the Quaffle after her, yelling, "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" Danielle shrieked as the Quaffle collided with the back of her head.

Ignoring her swearing, James signalled the rest of the team to meet at the stands, which everyone willingly did.

"Hey, Prongs, serious problem here," Sirius said urgently, coming forward with his broom in one arm. In the other he was supporting the small third-year Beater who was talented at aiming. His face was bright red and he swayed dangerously as Sirius helped him walk.

"I'm - _fine_," he muttered feverishly, his eyes half-closed.

Had it been any other time, James immediately would have sent him to the hospital wing and cancelled practice. But the situation was becoming desperate. His team needed training to perform at their regular standard as they had not been practicing for months, and so James nodded curtly at him and said, "He says he's fine. Have a drink, everyone, and we'll resume practicing."

This earned several outraged outbursts.

"He's not fine, look at the state of him!"

"If you keep us going like this we're all gonna pass out!"

"Do you want us to _die_ out here, James?"

"Look!" James yelled, "_I'm_ the Captain, and _my_ word is the law, so you all get _up there_ and fly!"

Still looking furious but ready to obey, his team members mounted their brooms. James watched them kick off in pairs, undoubtedly abusing him and his cruelty. But he felt so angry he didn't care. At that moment, someone poked him in the back again.

"Jaaaames," Lily whined; she was covered in many layers of clothing and had a huge hat on her head, but her face was still red and peeling, "Do you have sunscreen?"

James was taken aback by her appearance for a moment. She looked exactly like a tomato.

"No," he said slowly, turning his back on her and kicking off.

In five minutes, Sarah managed to drop the Quaffle every time it was passed to her, except once where she was so surprised she promptly threw it like it was a hot potato and hit James with it.

His team wasn't happy. Well, they kind of were, seeing as he got hit in the face by it.

James had never felt worse. It was bloody hot, Lily was still shrieking and running around down at the stands, Sarah was playing Quidditch at the standard of a two-year-old, and the rest of his players were swearing under their breaths and not playing properly.

"Sarah," he yelled, zooming above her, "_Watch_ where you're going to throw it, and make sure they know you're directing it at them. C'mon, let's try again!"

"You can't be serious," Danielle screeched, turning on her broom and pelting the Quaffle back at Sarah, who miraciously caught it, "This is so hopeless..."

James ignored her, "Okay, Sarah, now pass it to me."

"Okay..." Sarah said uncertainly. She moved her arm back and threw the Quaffle; it was dismal. It soared feet below where James was and made contact with the weak Beater. He groaned and fell backwards off his broom. Sirius raced out and managed to catch him before he hit the grass.

When he saw his youngest player fall off like that, James heart had stopped, and he suddenly felt icy. All meaning in the practice, in Quidditch, in the whole world even, was lost, and he didn't care about anything but the safety of his Beater. Nothing like this had ever happened since he was Captain; not even in a match against Slytherin. No player had ever been knocked off their broom at such a great height.

All that was going on in James' mind as he zoomed down to the ground where Sirius and the boy lay, was what would have happened if Sirius hadn't been able to catch him in time. James insides plummeted to his feet every time he imagined a different scenario.

"Is he alright?" Danielle was asking. The other Chaser had gone into hysterics and was hyperventilating and crying at the same time. No one paid any heed to her as they crowded around the unconscious Beater.

"He's just passed out, but I'm sure he's okay," Sirius said as James ran forward and grew cold at the sight of one of his players lying on the ground, pale and feverish-looking, "But we definitely need to get him to the wing."

"Um - yeah," James mumbled, still feeling like this was some horrible nightmare, "Er - Davies, could you - ?"

"Sure," their wiry Seeker stepped forward at once, "I'll need a bit of help - "

"Danielle - " James started, but as he turned around he saw his feisty Chaser marching up to Sarah, who had just managed to land.

"You _rotten_ girl!" Danielle shouted, "Do you _not_ know how to play Quidditch? Why in the hell _bother_ when you know you can't? You almost killed one of our players!"

"Oi!" Lily cut across swiftly, running in front of the victimised Sarah who looked quite shocked, "Sod off, Danielle! You have no right to blame Sarah, alright? It was just an accident."

"Lily, you know I like you and all, but your _friend_ here is a _disaster_!" Danielle retaliated, glaring daggers at Lily and then at Sarah.

Lily glared back, then looked at James and said, "James, stop her!"

But James was at his wits end as he plodded forward to meet the girls. He looked at Sarah square in the face and said, "No. Danielle's right. She _is_ a disaster."

Sarah looked like she had been slapped in the face, and her confidence was visibly oozing away as her eyes grew bright with tears.

Lily looked indignantly flabbergasted, even while she was still a bright pink and hiding underneath many layers of clothing, "Ex_cuse_ me, Potter?"

James turned his gaze to the redhead who was now directly underneath his nose. She looked up at him in a way he had seen her look at him many times; furious expression, accompanied with a flushed face and sparkling green eyes. It never failed to fascinate him, the way she could show how angry she was.

Sometimes, when he was bored, he provoked her because he thought she was absolutely cute when she was arguing. Other times, he did it to be able to _communicate_ with her. But it was a real fight this time.

"Don't you understand me, Evans?" he said in a dangerously low voice, "Your friend's a disaster. She has caused nothing but strife all morning, and made this whole practice a bloody waste of time!"

"It would have been a bloody waste of time anyway, because _you_ forced your whole team to play in this heat! It's not possible, Potter! You are pushing them too far!"

Everyone had stepped back to watch. Even the hysterical Chaser had quietened herself down.

"Oh, so now it's _my_ fault Tim fell off, huh?" James yelled.

"It bloody well is, and you know it!" Lily shouted, hands on hips.

"He wouldn't have fallen off if your _friend_ hadn't aimed so pathetically and knocked him off his broom!" James bellowed right into her face, panting heavily in his fury.

Lily didn't flinch, however. She looked at him right in the eye and said in a would-be calm voice, "He was already too weak to play, if you hadn't realised, but you made him keep going anyway! What kind of Captain _are_ you? I thought you'd stop being such a self-centered prat, but I guess not. Don't you care about the well-being of your players? Don't you know that they need _encouragement_, not just bland insults, to train them well? And lastly, Potter... I never thought you'd put your team at physical risk just so you can win a bloody Cup."

Words couldn't form in James' mouth, just a list of profanities. He turned away and swore bitterly under his breath, as Lily continued to face him. She knew she had to brace herself.

But there was no explosion.

James took a deep breath and said, "You know what? You're impossible. You refuse to see any good in me, even if I try my hardest. You don't understand anything about Quidditch - "

"And that's it, isn't it?" shrieked Lily, looking even more angry now, "It's just about Quidditch, it's just about the competition, about the winning - what's there _not_ to understand about it?"

"Forget it, Evans," James wore a look Lily had only ever seen him use when talking to Snape or Malfoy or any other foul Slytherin, "You - ... I give up, alright?" he turned to face his team, who looked apprehensive, "Practice is over. Enjoy the rest of your day. I'll go and see Tim later, and then we'll try and find some other time to meet," then he turned back to Lily, and looked at her in a way that frightened her, although it wasn't angry, "Enjoy the rest of your life, Lily."

He turned away and walked off without looking back.

There was silence.

The whole Quidditch team was looking at Lily, who seemed speechless. She stood there, dejected, watching as James walked off, feeling as though something, or someone, very - _important_ - was leaving her.

A squirm behind her made Lily turned around. Sarah was standing there, still crying pathetically. Though she had been defending her honour, Lily felt a tad bit irritated with her.

"Come on, Sarah," Lily muttered, taking her friend's arm, "Let's get you to Hagrid's."

Sarah was still too upset to make a coherent response. The Quidditch team watched as Lily pulled her to the hut in the far distance, where lots of students went to when they were hurt or needed help out on the grounds.

---

"What happened?" Hagrid asked as he poured out two glasses of iced dandelion juice and set them in front of Sarah, who was making squirming noises as tears leaked down her face, and Lily, who sat slumped in one of Hagrid's old armchairs.

"Oh... just... a bit of a misunderstanding... over Quidditch," the redhead replied, her eyes reflecting the sunlight that was streaming in from a grimy window.

"Quidditch," Hagrid nodded grimly, "Angers all. The heat doesn't help, either."

Lily just nodded. She still felt oddly confused and sad. That look James had given her - and what he had said - it made her feel so _hollow_.

Unfortunately for her, Hagrid noticed her empty expression and leant down in concern, "Lily, are yeh alright? Did Quidditch upset yeh too?"

Lily managed a small smile and was about to reply when Sarah made a choking noise and leapt up, saying with difficulty, "I - need - urggh - fresh - air!" and she bolted out of Hagrid's hut, slamming the door after her.

"Well?" Hagrid prompted.

Lily sighed, "No... it wasn't Quidditch."

"James, then?"

Lily didn't say anything, and Hagrid grunted in amusement.

"Potter again, eh?" he said, chuckling, "Ter tell yeh the truth, I was more used to him making yeh mad, not sad. Have a rock cake. Now, tell me what the foolish boy said this time."

"Well," Lily put down the rock cake that now bore deep teeth marks on one side, "It was nothing, really... just... I think what got me the most - and I dunno why - is he said... he gives up."

She looked up at Hagrid, curious for his reaction. To her surprise, he looked shocked.

"He didn't," he said in a low, serious voice.

"Yeah... he did," Lily said, confused, "But then, so what? What's so bad about that?"

Hagrid seemed to be struggling with this BIG news, "He really said that, then?"

She nodded.

Hagrid sighed deeply, "Lily... that boy... _man_... really fancies yeh. An' I reckon... yeh should just give him a shot. He's proven ter be taken in by yeh... for a long time, now. An' ter tell yeh the truth, yeh've given him a really hard time about it, an' he's still refused to give up. An' now that he has... I mean, gallopin' gargoyles, yeh'll never meet someone like him again, yer mark my words."

"I don't want to! He's insanely arrogant!"

"But he's grown on yeh, hasn't he?"

Lily stayed quiet. She thought about James, and everything he had done to her... and for her. She thought about how it felt to know there was someone there who really cared about her and paid her special attention, and the comfort this knowledge gave her. Then she tried to imagine how it would be if James hadn't existed... or even worse, if he had never cared for her... and her stomach flipped unpleasantly. In fact, this feeling matched the one she had felt earlier when James had walked off. To her horror, she felt her eyes prick uncomfortably.

"Admit it, Lily. Yeh care about this boy much more than yeh think, an' the way yeh've been treating him... I'm surprised he didn't give up earlier, actually."

"Hagrid..." Lily said quietly, furiously blinking away the faintest of tears, "What do I do?"

"Well, first of all," Hagrid said with a smile, reaching over and tilting Lily's head up with his large hand, "Yeh should stop be sad about it."

Lily gave a watery smile, then chuckled.

"There's a good girl. Now... I dun really know how these things really work... but maybe yeh should... approach him. Talk to him an' be friendly. An' if that fails... apologise. But only if it's absolutely necessary."

---

"Oh, dear Merlin," James mumbled to himself as he saw himself in the mirror. He was attired in cargo pants and a loose fitting muscle shirt, which would be perfectly ordinary, had he not been completely tanned (orange-ish) and shiny everywhere else.

And if his hair hadn't contained _gallons_ of _Sleekeazy's_ Hair Potion. The way it was so... shiny, made it look almost indecent.

In fact, one might say he looked like a Ken doll.

Which was brilliant, because that was the look he was going for.

Behind him, Sirius came bounding out. James turned to him for one last shot of mercy, but as soon as he caught a glimpse of Sirius he did a double take and it suddenly hit that he himself didn't look half so bad after all.

"Hello, Prongs! Ready to pah-tay?" Sirius said brightly, surveying himself in the mirror, "Oh yeah, this looks fabulous!"

Sirius was wearing shiny, shiny, shiny red tights and a ruffly white blouse, so that that his resemblance to Robin Hood and his men in tights was remarkable. His dark hair looked almost the same as James; slicked back with so much potion it looked like a shiny sculpture of goo.

"I don't really think Ken dolls wear tights, Padfoot," was all James could say, while trying not to look at the tights because one, they were ridiculously shiny and hurt his eyes, and two... for obvious reasons.

"Of course they do!" Sirius returned cheerfully, now shining up his face, "Where's Wormtail? We've gotta get down there quickly; I think most people are there already!"

James groaned, "Do we really have to go out like this? Since when did Remus' parties turn into dress-ups?"

"You said it was alright, so I went ahead with it. And I thought a Barbie and Ken Doll theme would be perfect. It'll give us a chance to ask some ladies to dance, too," Sirius grinned at his reflection, "There you are!"

Peter had stepped out of the bathroom, looking very orange and self-conscious.

"I look stupid," he said meekly.

"Don't worry, if you do, then so do we," Sirius said cheerfully, and James had to tell himself that this whacked-up Sirius was ten times better than the sullen Sirius, "And everyone knows we look brilliant."

Peter looked at his two friends and burst out into his stupid laughter.

"_Heckle, heckle. Heckle, heckle, HARF, heckle._"

As they went downstairs to the common-room, which was already full of loud chatter and laughter, James asked, "So who's invited this year?"

"The usual; all the Gryffindors, a few teachers including Slughorn and McGonagall, Hagrid, and Dumbledore as well," Sirius answered swiftly. James felt a bit guilty that Sirius had to do all the organising for Remus' birthday party this year; James had been preoccupied all week and hadn't been in a good mood.

"Er - " he said, as a sudden, disturbing thought occurred to him, "Do... do the teachers have to dress up too?"

"No."

James breathed a sigh of relief.

As they descended the last few steps, they were hailed by all the other Ken dolls and Barbies inside the room. The girls looked like they were enjoying themselves, as they giggled and exclaimed over each other's frilly, mismatched dresses. The guys, however, looked like they would very much like to dig a hole with their toe, fit themselves in comfortably, then _die_.

As Sirius called out for everyone to take their hiding spots, James made his way to the corner of the room with Peter following him. Normally, James would either have been as happy as Sirius, or as unhealthily embarrassed as all the other males in the room, but since that fateful Quidditch practice he had little emotion to spare. He didn't talk much, didn't laugh at all, and was as sullen as Sirius had been, though in a quieter fashion. He felt as though he didn't care about anything anymore - least of all Lily Evans, who was currently standing with her friends, and still looking pretty even with all that gunk on her face.

Lily caught his eye and she looked apprehensive; James, however, grunted, looked away and continued walking. He could've sworn she looked like she wanted to talk to him - but he didn't care.

Right?

Right.

James caught sight of Professor Slughorn talking to Professor McGonagall - he was wearing a rich emerald suit with golden buckles and buttons, and on his head was a purple toupee. Even though James didn't feel like his normal mischievous self, he still wished he had brought his camera. The Potions Master with purple hair was something worth remembering.

"He's coming!" Sirius hissed, "Lights out!"

The lights went out and everyone went quiet. A minute later, the door opened and a chink of light appeared - and then fireworks shot up, spelling out the words, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and everyone else jumped up as the lights went on, yelling, "SURPRISE!" and blowing party blowers.

Remus stood there, looking utmost bewildered.

Laughing, Sirius came running out, shiny red tights and all.

"Surprised?"

"The first two years, yes," Remus said, grinning as he looked appreciatively around the room, "Then after that, no. _This _year, however..." he gaped at the outrageous outfits, "Nice fireworks... and trendy costumes."

Everyone laughed, though the males of the crowd did so half-heartily.

James softly sung along with everyone else, and watched as a beaming Remus blew out the candles and cut the huge cake the house-elves had spent all morning baking. Then everyone applauded, and the music started. With a sigh, James sat back and watched the party. People were moving to talk to Remus, and to get food.

He wished he didn't feel this way. He wished he could be happy for the sake of his best friend. But he couldn't help feeling deflated and hollow. He hadn't known giving up on Lily would be like this... and he had thought chasing her had been hard.

James sighed again and slumped back, crossing his arms. Even when surrounded by his friends, all dressed up and some looking like complete idiots, he couldn't manage a genuine smile. It was awful. How could one girl make him feel this way?

He began wishing he had never known her, and so went into a tangent of how he could have _not_ met her. Well, he could've never gone to Hogwarts. Or she could have been sorted into Slytherin, and so be purely evil. (Stereotypical.) _Or_...

Already he was running out of ideas.

"James?"

Remus was standing in front of him. He had a dozen random articles of clothing draped over him (such as an outrageous purple scarf and a wreath of flowers) and his plate was loaded with food. James half-smiled; when you were the birthday boy, you were fussed over by everyone.

"Hey, Moony," he said in what he hoped was a happy voice, "Er - happy birthday, mate."

"Thanks," replied Remus, still sounding sincere although he must've said it a thousand times already, "Why aren't you eating? The cake's really nice," he said as he sat down beside James.

"Oh..." James shrugged, "I suppose I'm not that hungry."

Remus studied him for a minute as he chewed his cake, "James. Honestly. Are you still mad at Lily?"

"Huh?" said James, his hazel eyes immediately darting to Remus, who looked quite smug.

"Just go talk to her," he said earnestly, "Look. She's looking at you right now."

"Whatever," James muttered, but out of the corner of his eye it _did_ seem like Lily was looking at him.

"James..." Remus sighed and put down his plate, "Listen to me. It's obvious you both feel bad about what happened on Saturday - "

"How do you know that?" James asked accusingly.

"Because you're being a moody little sod and Lily keeps looking like she wants to talk to you," said Remus briskly and a bit sharply, "So, why don't you just forgive her and go _talk_ to her?"

James continued on being a stubborn child, "She hasn't done anything wrong, and so there's nothing to forgive. I just gave up on her, that's all. And if giving up on her means not communicating with her, then so be - "

"Quick, she's at the food table! Go bump into her now and talk!" Remus hissed, barely hearing what James had said. He grabbed his arm ("Oi!") and thrust him forward.

"Err - Moony?" James said a bit anxiously as Remus continued to drag him, "What... what are you doing?"

"Forget about the book, okay? What I want for my birthday is for you to patch things up with Lily, okay?" Remus said rather forcefully, and this frightened James a bit, "So - _go_!" And with one final push James stumbled forward, tripped over his own feet and crashed into -

Lily.

"_Heckle, heckle. Heckle, heckle, HARF, heckle_," laughed Peter.

People moved out of the way as Lily and James collided onto the floor, Lily's plate unceremoniously flying up and then back down, landing next to the two who were now tangled into each other on the ground. James immediately jumped to his feet, and faced the mystified looks of his fellow students.

He made a mental note to kill Remus.

"James!" Lily exclaimed from the floor, and James quickly looked down at her, "What in the name of bloody Merlin was that?" she asked, sounding annoyed.

"Err..." James said hesitantly, suddenly feeling a bit shy, "Whoops..." He momentarily forgot that he was "not speaking" to her, and offered his hand. Lily grasped onto it and pulled herself up.

Merlin, she was beautiful.

James realised what he had just done and thought, and promptly dropped her hand. She looked at him sceptically and he stood there, wondering what he should do.

"I know you're angry at me," Lily said with a sparkle in her eyes, "But you needn't have pushed me over. I was about to eat that chicken, and it's my favourite!" She pointed at the chicken schnitzel that now lay on the floor, next to her upturned plate.

"I didn't do it on purpose, and I'm _not_ angry at you," James said quickly, wondering why everyone thought so, "And here, I'll get you another one." Trying to regain order of his thoughts, James grabbed a plate, piled as many chicken schnitzels as possible on it (six - the seventh one kinda toppled off) and thrust it into her.

"Here," he said, resolving to walk away after she accepted the plate, hunt down Remus, assassinate him, then go to his dormitory to plan his future as a lonely bachelor.

"That's it?" Lily said, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh?" James asked, frowning, "How many schnitzels are you planning to eat, woman?"

"No, not that," Lily said, rolling her eyes, and he felt suddenly very annoyed at her, "Aren't you going to apologise for knocking me over?"

James opened and closed his mouth several times, before managing to say in his shock, "Me _apologise_?"

"Yes," she said calmly.

"Oh, I think _not_!" he exclaimed heatedly, "You're the one who - " James stopped. He had realised he'd be stuck in THAT all too familiar situation again, where there'd both be arguing hot-headedly, and he would come out as the underdog.

No! He had put a stop to this!

"Forget it," he muttered, glaring at his feet.

"No, I will not," Lily retorted, grabbing his arm (it felt quite nice) to stop him from walking away, "You told me to forget it last time... and I did. That was a mistake. James," her voice had gone a bit more gentle, "Tell me."

What was she doing?

Did she actually _want_ him to fall for her again?

James cursed everything he could think of. Lily. Lily's hair. Lily's eyes. Lily's personality. Lily, Lily, Lily.

Why'd she have to be so... _perfect for him?_

He took a deep breath and, still refusing to meet her eyes, mumbled, "You - "

"James, honestly," there was a note of impatience in her voice now, "Look at me when you speak."

James looked defiantly at her, and as soon as he did he burst out angrily, "Alright, alright! Merlin's _beard_, you are impossible sometimes. You - you - _you're_ the one who always picks fights with me - everything'd be bloody peaceful if you'd keep your mouth shut sometimes!"

Lily gaped at him, as if she hadn't been expecting that. Then her expression changed to a timid and understanding one, "James - "

But James was on a roll, "You don't know what it's like to analyse every part of your own personality - to see what possibly could be so awful to others. And then when you _do_ change your ways a bit - "

"James - " Lily started again in a very soft voice.

" - the other person doesn't bloody see it! But you try your hardest - put your _heart_ on the line - and the rotten stinking w - "

"DAMMIT JAMES I'M TRYING TO APOLOGISE TO YOU!"

James paused.

The world had come to an end. It was raining cows and the sky was beneath his feet. Remus was a stripper at a night club and Peter had stopped laughing like a prat. James was standing triumphant and - _Lily Evans was going to apologise to him?_

In an almost dreamlike state, he looked at Lily. She looked back at him with those intense emerald eyes. She _did_ seem sorry - it reflected in those bright green pools - and James felt an odd stab of thrill, even though her expression was mingled with annoyance.

Oops.

Perhaps he shouldn't have... said so much.

"Apologise?" he finally repeated a bit dazedly.

"Yes, apologise, you great prat," Lily said solidly, rolling her eyes. But once again, she had become endearing to James, and he grinned lopsidedly at her. This earned him a reluctant half-smile.

It occurred to him right then and there that his feelings for this girl were much stronger than he had thought. That these feelings... weren't just going to end at a good, hearty snog. (Though plenty of those would be nice.)

Unfortunately, this shining moment of romantic realisation was ruined when Sirius came dancing in between them, singing loudly and vivaciously along with the upbeat and slightly rocky song that was now issuing out of the ancient gramophone.

"Marinate the nether rod, in the squish mitten. Power drill the yippee bog, with the dude piston. Pressure wash the quiver bone, in the bitch wrinkle Cannonball the fiddle cove, ooh la la, with the pork steeple," he sang quite happily.

There was his best mate, jumping up and down crudely, "dancing" to this song, and looking suggestively at the girls around, who, surprisingly, seemed quite interested.

James didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

It was apparent Sirius didn't know the words to this particularly fast and rap-like part of the song, so he simply continued jumping up and down in his red tights, rocking his head to the beat.

Lily was laughing, and Sirius caught her eye and grinned. He grabbed her hands and made her dance with him, and now he was yelling out, "Foxtrot! Uniform! Charlie! Kilo!" along with the song. Surprisingly, a number of others had joined in with the singing.

James felt faintly mystified.

He also felt a faint surge of jealousy as he watched Sirius hold onto Lily, attempting to spin her around.

"Anyway, Lily," he said rather heavily, laying a hand on her arm, "What was it that you wanted to say to me?"

"What?" Lily asked, confused. Then she understood and said, "Oooh, yeah! Um - sorry Sirius," she eased out of his grip, which wasn't that difficult, "Do you... want to go outside, then?"

Sirius was now surrounded by several other students, and they were all jumping around a bit insanely while bellowing, "PUT THE YOU-KNOW-WHAT, IN THE YOU-KNOW-WHERE!"

"Yes," James answered automatically, ducking when Sirius tried to drag him into the circle of hectic dancers, "Hurry!" He grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her out of the common-room.

While they were still walking, Professor Dumbledore appeared out of nowhere (not literally; it is a widely known fact that you can't Apparate within the school grounds, though since Dumbledore is so high and mighty he probably can) and laid a kind hand on Sirius' shoulder, just as Professor McGonagall pointed her wand at the gramophone and put an end to the "rude" song playing.

Chuckling, Dumbledore led Sirius to the side of the room while all the other dancers groaned in protest, "Come now, Mr Black... we're afraid you're frightening the younger students..."

It was certainly much quieter out in the corridor, but as soon as the portrait was shut again Lily and James jumped when they heard what sounded like a broken violin.

Make that two broken violins.

"_Oh the fiiiiiiiiiiirst Noeeeel - HIC - the angel did say, was to certain poor shepherds in fields where they - HIC - lay..._"

It was the Fat Lady and her friend, Violet, both absorbed in their late-Christmas carolling. It seemed they had also joined in with the festivities of Remus' birthday, and were celebrating by steadily drinking their way through some beer they had stolen from the painting of an Australian pub.

"HIC - what are you two doing out - HIC - here? You shouldn't be - HIC - out there - or is it in here? - not celebrating..." the Fat Lady trailed off and gave an almighty belch.

"_Awaaay in a manger, no crib for a - for a - _"

Lily and James exchanged glances and hid their smiles. Then James cleared his throat importantly and said formally, "So anyway Ms Evans... I do believe you had something to say to me?"

"What?"

James looked shocked, "The apology!"

Lily looked shocked now, "You can't possibly expect me to apologise now!"

"Why not? Why else did you come out here, then?"

"To get away from Sirius, of course."

"But why won't you apologise? You said you were trying to, and now I'm letting you. Go on, be a friend."

Lily scoffed, "And I should apologise to you, even thought you were about to call me a wench?"

James looked unabashed, "I wasn't about you call you a wench. I was gonna call you - a witch."

Lily was shocked again, "That's not very offensive, now, is it?"

"Well it isn't!" James was confused, "You _are_ a witch, and a damn adorable one if I might say so." Lily blushed and James suddenly grinned, "I just called you adorable and you _blu-u-ushed_! Now you have to apologise."

"I - oh, _alright_," said a flustered Lily, "But only because I admit I've been a bit unfair to you... and _not_ because you called me adorable, you prick!" She smacked the laughing James on the arm.

"Oi!"

"Shut it," Lily ordered. She took a deep breath and looked up at him seriously, "James... _stop laughing_ - I know you've changed, and I truly do, because I wouldn't have spoken to you at all this year otherwise. But... sometimes it's easier just to label you as conceited, even though you _have_ improved... lots. And... _listen to me_... I'm sorry."

James didn't say anything. He was in awe that her apologies could contain more than two words.

When three seconds had ticked by, Lily continued, "I'm sorry I haven't been fair to you. I'm sorry I haven't always shown you the respect you deserve. And I'm sorry for blaming you for - well... everything."

She looked at him pleadingly, and James looked back at her, into her eyes.

He smiled, "You're so sweet, you know. Just one of the reasons why I love you."

Lily had heard this many times before, but this time, it was different. It _meant_ something. She felt her face heat up as she looked into the roguish face of James and, without planning it, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him.

"_Round yon virgin, mother and chiiiiiild -_ aww, look at that, Violet! Young - HIC - love!"

"How lovely... Y'know... I once had a lover too... _zzz_..." _Thump._

"Yeah... _right._"

----------

A/N: Twahaha... I don't blame you if you thought it was corny and very rushed... because it was kinda. Howeverly, I was _still_ pleased with the end result. :) I hope all you peace-loving readers of mine liked it too, especially you... YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. xD AND YES, I _AM_ MOVING MY FOOT TO UPDATE FULL HOUSE! I just needed to get this done first because it's appallingly late. Now, birthday presents _can_ be late... but when it's _this_ late, there's TROUBLE. So who you're gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS! Err... that is to say... MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL (just two days late x)) AND HAPPY NEW YEAR (five days _early_)! xD Smile and enjoy your holidays! x) - MSQ.

PS. I know Remus' birthday can't be this late, but HUSH.

PPS. I know Quidditch season should be over by now, BUT HUSH AGAIN!


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